Welcome to HHF's New Website!

By Nadine Dehgan, CEO, Hearing Health Foundation

Hearing Health Foundation (HHF) proudly introduced a new website today, August 2. The contemporary design features an engaging storytelling format, clear calls to action, and mobile responsiveness, all of which will enable HHF to better serve and communicate with constituents.

Take a look around to familiarize yourself with HHF’s new virtual headquarters. Below are the site’s most exciting improvements:

Simplified Navigation Bar
We reduced our primary navigation bar to just six categories inspired by user analytics from our old website. Choose from About, How to Help, Research, News, Resources, and Hearing Loss. Between the home page and these six key sections, you will find everything you need.

Streamlined Donation & Partnership Hub
How to Help lists every single action that you can take to advance cures and treatments for hearing loss, tinnitus, and related conditions. The options shown here apply to both individual contributors and corporate partners.

Mobile-Friendliness
Did you ever visit the old HearingHealthFoundation.org on your cell phone? If you did, you probably quickly abandoned the page, frustrated by small text and the need to zoom in and out. Our new website fits perfectly on your smartphone or tablet. Try it!

Consolidation of Research Programs
The Research page provides information on our programs, Emerging Research Grants (ERG), Hearing Restoration Project (RFP), and, the newest, Ménière's Disease Grants (MRG), to keep you informed of our critical investigative work. The reorganization of the Research Programs will also more efficiently attract talented scientists who are researching cures and treatments.

Centralized E-Newsletter and Hearing Health Magazine Registration
Subscribing to HHF is no longer a two-step process. Conveniently opt into to our e-newsletter and free print magazine with fewer clicks on the Subscribe page. The modification will increase viewership and, therefore, hearing health awareness.

More Social Sharing Options
Share useful educational resources or inspiring blog posts with your friends and family seamlessly. Every page includes a sharing sidebar from which you can quickly send information through social media or email.

Ad Space
The new website is more customizable than the previous, allowing for greater advertising capacity. As a result, more organizations will be able to contribute to HHF’s life-changing research and education programs and show commitment to the many Americans with hearing loss, tinnitus, and related conditions.

We welcome your feedback about the new website in the comments section.

Meet HHF's Small But Mighty Team

By Nadine Dehgan

Hearing Health Foundation (HHF) is working around the clock to help find cures and treatments and also to better the lives of those with hearing loss. And we are doing it with a small and incredible team.

Recently I attended a bowling outing with HHF's full-time staff and our mighty army of interns. (Please see the photo.) Missing are Yishane Lee and Robin Wisser Kidder whose wonderful talent is used to edit and design Hearing Health magazine; Caroline Oberweger who aids with foundation grants; and Frankie Huang who helped as a marketing intern.

From left to right: Stephanie Jacovina, Breana King, Shawaza Majeed, Laura Friedman, Nadine Dehgan, Hai Zhou and Kelly Barahona

Thanks to these talented people, HHF has been able to: 

• Increase awareness of preventable noise-induced hearing loss by developing. partnerships with peer organizations and corporations.

• Register to fundraise in every state—a necessary and time-consuming process.

• Write blog posts and magazine articles on various hearing loss topics as well as hearing research.

• Secure media placement in the following outlets: The New Yorker, The Guardian, Men’s Journal, and others.

• Rewrite our internal policies and procedures to streamline activities and reduce costs.

• Send supporters and constituents countless communications including magazines, letters, and appeals to raise funds so we can continue our important work.

• Communicate with the Federal Drug Administration, Federal Trade Commission, and various elected officials regarding the critical need for affordable hearing health care (e.g.,. over-the-counter hearing aids) and significance of funding hearing research.

• Advocate for the reversal of the 2018 federal budget’s proposed elimination of all federalUniversal Newborn Hearing Screening funding, $18 million in total.

• Announce our newly formed partnership with Hearing Charity of America’s Hearing Aid Donation Project to collect used hearing aids to give to those who need.

• Increase Hearing Health magazine ad sales revenue enabling HHF to invest in growing its readership.

• Continue to receive top ratings from charity watchdogs with HHF named twice in two categories in Consumer Reports’ top five best charities.

• And most importantly increase funding to our critical hearing and balance research programs promoting innovative approaches by both early-stage scientists and established experts in their fields!

At HHF we all live and breathe our mission. I would like to recognize and express my gratitude to those the who give of their time and talent to our cause.

There is much to do and many unmet research needs—but together we will get there.

From the bottom of my heart I am grateful and hope you wil join me in thanking these folks. They help make it all possible.

Nadine Dehgan is the chief executive officer of Hearing Health Foundation.

Hearing Health Foundation and Hearing Charities of America Join Forces

By Laura Friedman

Hearing Health Foundation and Hearing Charities of America Join Forces

Hearing Charities of America (HCOA) and Hearing Health Foundation are excited to announce a newly formed partnership in an effort to collect hearing aids that will be given to low-income individuals through the HCOA’s national assistance program, The Hearing Aid Project.

One quarter of Americans ages 20 to 65 suffer from hearing loss, which makes it one of the country’s most widespread public health concerns. The Hearing Aid Project was created to provide access to affordable hearing health services, while creating collaborative relationships to support this mission.

Countless hearing aids sit unused in drawers or are discarded once new hearing aids are purchased. Hearing Health Foundation is now a collection center for The Hearing Aid Project to ensure that quality, donated hearing aids can be refurbished and given to those in need.

“Hearing Health Foundation is thrilled to join forces with Hearing Charities of America and do our part in collecting hearing aids to be refurbished and distributed to those who need them,” said Nadine Dehgan, HHF’s CEO. “Minimal health insurance and Medicare coverage, as well as out-of-pocket costs, have been a major hurdle for many who could benefit from using hearing aids. Until quality hearing healthcare is available to all of the 48 million Americans living with hearing loss, HHF is glad to be doing its part to provide hearing aid assistance to those in need,” Dehgan said.

Hearing Charities of America and Hearing Health Foundation believe that healthy hearing should be enjoyed by all. To donate your hearings aids to be refurbished, please contact Hearing Health Foundation at info@hhf.org or 212-257-6140.

THE HEARING HEALTH CHALLENGE

In celebration of Better Hearing and Speech Month in May, Hearing Health Foundation is launching the Hearing Health Challenge. Although hearing loss is commonly associated with one’s normal aging process, more than half of those with hearing loss are younger than 65. The top two war wounds for active military personnel and veterans are hearing loss and tinnitus, accounting for 60 percent of this population.

Unfortunately, only 13 to 33 percent of those who need hearing aids use them; financial constraints, the lack of a perceived need, and stigma are leading reasons why hearing loss goes untreated for an average of 7 to 10 years after diagnosis. Hearing Health Foundation is committed to reducing the stigma, educating the public on the dangers of noise, advocating for greater access to hearing health care, and funding the best science to find better treatments and cures for hearing loss and its associated disorders.

CHALLENGE

• For every hearing aid received within the month of May, a $200 cash donation will be made to HHF by an anonymous donor to support hearing research. 
   

• For every dollar donated within the month of May, that dollar will be matched up to $33,500 by an anonymous donor to support hearing research.  

HHF Welcomes New Board Members in April 2017

By Nadine Dehgan

Hearing Health Foundation (HHF) is delighted to welcome Bob Shannon, Ph.D., and Ruth Anne Eatock, Ph.D., to our Board of Directors. Their unwavering commitment toward advancing research to better understand hearing loss and its associated disorders make Drs. Shannon and Eatock perfect additions to our leadership team.

Dr. Robert Shannon is a research professor of otolaryngology at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine with over four decades of experience in researching auditory perception and psychoacoustics. He also serves as an editor and reviewer for several prominent scientific journals and funding agencies and has published more than 100 scientific articles on his research. Most recently Dr. Shannon has been a primary investigator on research studies that advance the technology and effectiveness of the auditory brainstem implant (ABI), an auditory prosthesis for people who have a non-functioning auditory nerve. The ABI is the first device approved by the Food and Drug Administration for prosthetic electrical stimulation of the human brainstem.

“I initially got involved with HHF (then DRF) by joining the Science Review Committee, to ensure the high quality of the research proposals, and later joined the Council of Scientific Trustees,” said Dr. Shannon. “Now I look forward to continued service on the HHF Board of Directors to have an integral role in pushing the Foundation’s research efforts forward.”

Dr. Ruth Anne Eatock is a professor of neurobiology and the dean of Faculty Affairs for the Biological Sciences Division at the University of Chicago. She trained at McGill, Caltech, the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, and MIT, and has held academic positions in otolaryngology and neuroscience departments at University of Rochester, Baylor College of Medicine, and Harvard. She has experience mentoring students, fellows and clinical scientists in sensory processing by the inner ear, reviewing federal and private grant applications, editing and reviewing research papers, and organizing hearing research meetings.  These experiences have given her a broad appreciation of the progress and goals driving our diverse hearing research community.

Dr. Eatock notes: “My first independent grant was a Deafness Research Grant (now known as Emerging Research Grants), so I am well aware of the importance of such seed funding in helping new investigators establish themselves and advance hearing research.”

HHF is excited to have Drs. Bob Shannon and Ruth Anne Eatock as new members of our Board of Directors and we look forward to their contributions toward HHF’s mission. Please join us in giving them both a warm welcome!

AudiologyNow! 2017

By Kathleen Wallace

The American Academy of Audiology’s (AAA) annual conference, AudiologyNow!, took place in the Indianapolis Convention Center in early April. Although four days of lectures addressed nearly every aspect of the audiological scope of practice, one overarching theme emerged this year: How will the field of audiology evolve from here?

This past year has posed various disruptions to the field of audiology, such as how over-the-counter hearing aid legislation will change delivery of services, how the continued interest in personal sound amplification products (PSAPs, also called “hearables”) will guide consumer choice, and how to improve evaluations and interventions to best serve individuals with hearing loss. These questions, along with many others, fueled an exciting dialogue among professionals from around the country.

AAA President Ian Windmill, Ph.D., urged members of the academy to embrace disruptions to the field, including the recently introduced legislation for nonprescription hearing aids. Although these changes may appear as an encroachment on the audiological scope of practice, Dr. Windmill urged that these may actually be beneficial to the field.

Dr. Windmill said hearing healthcare has never been more in the public eye or as highly discussed by health officials, politicians, and consumers than in this past year. This increased awareness could lead to the prioritization of hearing health, as consumers grow more cognizant of the repercussions of hearing loss. Furthermore, the introduction of hearing solutions at various price points and technology levels may improve accessibility. If audiologists were to embrace these alternatives to intervention, they will successfully evolve with the field while simultaneously demonstrating to consumers their dedication to patient-centered care.

This sentiment was echoed throughout the conference’s sessions. Additionally, multiple lectures discussed how audiologists could improve delivery of patient-centered care by improving counseling skills, utilization of self-assessments, and consumer education to shift the locus of control from care provider to joint decision-making between the consumer and the hearing provider.

Lastly, leading professionals in the field encouraged a return to the audiologists’ roots as rehabilitative professionals. In the years since the audiological scope of practice expanded to include the ability to dispense hearing aids, audiologists have slowly shifted their focus from providing rehabilitative services to a device-driven service centered on hearing aids. However, the delivery of unprecedented auditory rehabilitation to foster successful communication strategies will enable our profession to succeed in the face of the many disruptions to hearing technology.

AAA’s willingness to acknowledge the challenges facing hearing healthcare is very promising to its successful evolution as a field. Although the field of audiology is currently experiencing some growing pains, many hearing healthcare professionals are embracing this opportunity to rethink the delivery of care and how to improve patient satisfaction by challenging the status quo.

High-Tech Hope for the Hard of Hearing

"In 2011, the Hearing Health Foundation based in New York, created the Hearing Restoration Project, a consortium of fourteen scientists who agreed to work together toward that goal, partly with funding from the foundation. One of the originators of the project, Edwin Rubel, who was a co-discoverer of hair-cell regrowth in chickens, told me, “It’s potentially the best thing that ever happened, because it really does bring together a lot of different kinds of expertise.”

Hearing Health Foundation's work toward finding better therapies and cures for hearing loss and tinnitus was featured in the April 3, 2017 Issue of T High-Tech Hope for the Hard of Hearing he New Yorker Magazine. Read the article here.

Our 2016 Annual Report Is Now Available!

By Frankie Huang

Hearing Health Foundation (HHF) is happy to announce that its 2016 annual report is now available. The report is an in-depth review of our activities, events, and achievements for fiscal year 2016. We are very proud of top marks from top charity-rating agencies and even more proud our audited financial statements.

We are fortunate to have such generous supporters who raised funds to further HHF’s mission of prevention, education, and research. Check out our supporters' creative and unique fundraisers; if you feel inspired and would like to organize an event of your own, please contact us at development@hhf.org.

In 2016, the Hearing Restoration Project (HRP) has made significant strides, bringing us closer to finding a cure for hearing loss and tinnitus. Here are just two of the HRP’s discoveries:

• Successfully disrupted gene expression in the adult mouse cochlea, including capturing high-quality images—necessary for testing genes in regeneration.
   

• Confirmed that the “DTR mouse” is an excellent platform for studying ways to stimulate hair cell regeneration in the mammalian inner ear.

HHF awarded nine Emerging Research Grants (ERGs) to early-career scientists who are pursuing projects in the areas of Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD), Hyperacusis, Ménière's disease, Stria, and Tinnitus. Through ERG, we hope to uncover better treatment options and deeper understanding of these disorders.

Last but certainly not least, we want to express our gratitude and appreciation for our many donors; because of their support, we were able to continue with our important work. To see your name on our next donors’ list, we gladly welcome and appreciate your gift in any amount made by Sept. 30, 2017.

Urgent Call to Action: Proposed Cuts to Hearing Research

By Nadine Dehgan, Elizabeth Keithley, Ph.D., and Peter Barr-Gillespie, Ph.D.

Hearing Health Foundation (HHF) is deeply concerned to learn the Trump administration has proposed an 18% cut to the budget for the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Such a cut would be devastating for all medical research - including hearing research. As an advocate for the millions of Americans who have hearing loss we are especially troubled.

A drastic decrease to the funding of hearing research would disrupt the efforts of the many hearing researchers who dedicate their lives to finding cures and treatments for hearing loss, tinnitus and balance disorders.

HHF and the NIH are partners in funding research. HHF’s two research programs—the Emerging Research Grants and the Hearing Restoration Project—both rely on NIH support. HHF's funding alone cannot support these labs.

Private funding of hearing research is dwarfed by NIH support, and these proposed cuts could harm the research program of each and every hearing research lab, including those supported by the HHF.

As people with hearing loss, parents of those with hearing loss, children of those with hearing loss and as the leadership of the Hearing Health Foundation we ask your support. Financial support is always needed and welcome - but in this case we are specifically asking for you to contact your representatives to let them know that you oppose cuts to the NIH (and in fact support increases to the NIH’s budget).

If you are passionate about funding the research that will lead to cures for hearing loss and balance disorders, now is the time to act.

Please join us in contacting your Senators and House Representative's offices today.

With our sincere thanks,
Nadine Dehgan | CEO of HHF
Elizabeth Keithley | Chair of the Board
Peter Barr-Gillespie | HRP Scientific Director

HHF Welcomes Two New Board Members

By Nadine Dehgan

Hearing Health Foundation (HHF) is thrilled to welcome two new board members, Jason Frank and Sophia Boccard. Their unwavering dedication to furthering research and awareness of hearing loss and its associated disorders make Jason and Sophia the perfect addition to our leadership team.

Jason Frank is a Vice President/Assistant General Counsel of JPMorgan & Co. in New York City. Jason and his wife Jenny delved into the world of hearing loss after their son was diagnosed with bilateral, mild to moderate sensorineural hearing loss. When looking for resources, Jason says, “We found HHF and the Hearing Restoration Project and knew we wanted to to get involved…. It has been over five years and, while our son is doing wonderfully thanks to early intervention and access to hearing aids since he was 8 weeks old, we remain committed to spreading awareness for hearing loss and finding a cure. I am extremely excited about joining the National Board and becoming more intimately involved with HHF and its cause.”

Sophia Boccard is a digital marketing strategist in the hospitality industry with over a decade of marketing experience in the entertainment industry. “As someone who was born with moderate to severe hearing loss, I've always accepted the loss of hearing as a part of who I am. After being diagnosed with Usher syndrome type 2a in 2012, I realized that a cure for both hearing and vision was something I needed to fight for,” Sophia says. HHF looks forward to working with Sophia to share her experience living with Usher syndrome to raise awareness and find better therapies and cures.

HHF is excited to have Jason and Sophia as new board members and we look forward to their contributions to HHF’s mission. Please join us in giving them both a warm welcome!

HHF Named Twice in Consumer Reports

Hearing Health Foundation is absolutely thrilled to be named—twice—in Consumer Reports’ “Best Charities for Your Donation,” published Dec. 14, 2016.

The article offers tips for finding a charity that, in its words, “really puts your money to work.” It reviewed the detailed process by which charity rating organizations Charity Watch, Charity Navigator, and BBB Wise Giving Alliance assess charities.

“Collectively, these groups evaluate thousands of nonprofit organizations based on how they collect and spend their money, how transparent they are to the public, and how well they’re governed,” the story says.

Using the watchdog reports, Consumer Reports listed up to five of the highest- and lowest-rated charities in 11 categories.

Hearing Health Foundation was cited as one of the nation’s five best charities—and the only one cited twice, in the categories “Blind and Impaired Hearing” and “Health.”

I like to say Hearing Health Foundation is “small yet mighty”—so it is very gratifying to get confirmation of our fiscal health from a respected publication like Consumer Reports.

During this season of giving, we are grateful for your gifts that enable us to further our mission of hearing protection, education, and research.

If you haven’t yet, and are able to give, please consider an end-of-year donation knowing that all of us at Hearing Health Foundation—staff, scientists, board members, and other advisers—are working tirelessly to make your dollars count.