hear so the world may
WINTER 2012
Starkey Hearing Foundation
The Future of Hearing INDIA • MEXICO • MADAGASCAR • MAURITIUS • THE PHILIPPINES • SOUTH AFRICA • HONDURAS • HAITI
THE FUTURE We’ll create it together. A future of understanding where care crosses borders where the gift of hearing changes lives where 1 million hearing aids in one decade connects people uplifts whispers transmits music enables learning fuels hope expands imagination powers endless possibilities.
Together, we can change the world.
Tell us your ideas: facebook.com/starkeyhearing 3
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Inside Director’s Cut Founder Bill Austin looks back—and ahead. Reel A peek at stunning, documentary-style films of missions and more. Engage Letters from our friends and supporters. Noteworthy A surprise celebration honors Founder Bill Austin’s 50 years of purpose. Firsthand An interview with actor Kevin Costner about the importance of sound. Sounds Good Can you identify this sound?
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Recent Missions
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Strength in Numbers An unforgettable mission to India. Clear in Mexico Making a difference in Chiapas.
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Calm After the Storm Lending helping hands in Colima and Los Mochis, Mexico, after Hurricane Joe. Moving in Madagascar Sowing new seeds of hearing in Madagascar. A Mission in Port Louis A Mauritius mission offers hope and hearing.
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24 We want to hear from you. Tell us your thoughts: facebook.com/ starkeyhearing
A New Thrilla’ in Manila The Philippines most famous boxer takes off his gloves for the Foundation. Hearing with Richard Branson Sir Richard Branson joins us in the wilderness of Ulusaba, South Africa for a special mission.
6700 Washington Avenue South Eden Prairie, MN 55344 www.starkeyhearingfoundation.org 9440 Santa Monica Blvd #708 Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Digging Deep in Honduras Deep reserves of joy are the backdrop for this Honduras mission.
Starkey Hearing Foundation is incorporated as a 501(c)(3) public tax-exempt charitable organization.
Back to Haiti Strengthening our hearinghealth infrastructure in Haiti.
The Future of Hearing
A look at the future — from our perspective.
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Small is Beautiful A visual chronology of hearing aids through time. The Future: It’s Already Here Key ideas and innovations that enable a future of understanding.
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Wise Beyond His Ears Young hearing aid recipient Lucas Morang is the next generation—and he wants Bill Austin’s job. Fact—or Science Fiction Science fiction writers have an uncanny ability to foretell the future. Can you?
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BILL AUSTIN reflects as he moves into the future.
Director’s Cut What was the most personally satisfying moment of 2011? The most encouraging thing was the response that we got in Palestine from the Palestinians and the Israelis working together and starting to really respect each other and like each other, which leads to the trust that’s needed to bring a reduction in conflict in that area. That was the promise of our effort.
Going forward, what are you most excited about for the coming year? What I look forward to most of all is for the realization of the documentary series and our social media efforts to start this wave, this viral infection of kindness. We want to share examples of easy ways of being part of a better future and a better world. With a little bit of opportunity and encouragement, we can get people to be part of doing the right thing. And the right thing is to respect each other so that life may continue on this planet, and we’ll have a better environment for our children and grandchildren.
What do you want people to take away from the new media efforts? I want to expand our message: so the world may hear. So all may understand that we’re one world, that we can’t live in isolation, that we have to be concerned about our fellow humans, that as we inhabit this planet together, we can’t stand alone. The caring we reflect today will make the future bright for our children and grandchildren. I’m excited about communicating this message in a way that wasn’t possible before because we did not have today’s connectivity through social media and international communication the way we have now. We can tell the story of the fabric of life—the story of people—and let people become real to each other and help each other. We can have a better world.
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Excellent real-time documentary-style short films await you at starkeyhearingfoundation.org. So head there—and let us know what you think.
Reel We round up our latest visual storytelling.
Haiti Mission: Miley Cyrus PSA
Legacy: Bill Austin, Starkey Hearing Foundation
Miley Cyrus joins Starkey Hearing Foundation on a hearing mission to Haiti, just a year after that country suffered a devastating earthquake. Watch as she finds a way to communicate and care through a universal language: music.
How did Bill Austin go from creating a one-room hearing aid repair shop to one of the largest hearing aid manufacturers in the world—and a foundation that’s creating an infrastructure of hearing health globally for people in need?
Soundscapes Bold visuals and a soaring score show how our world is defined and given shape by sound—from waterfalls to rocket launches to bustling intersections. But what happens when the sound goes off?
“Without hearing, there is no music. Hearing is a gift.” MILEY CYRUS
“Think of the compound effect of doing some good today. And think of years from now, how we might have a better world.” BILL AUSTIN
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“Even the tiniest of sounds can shatter the highest wall and dissolve borders.” SOUNDSCAPES
Letters and posts from you—on the web and in the mail.
Engage I’m on the airplane returning from a hearing mission to India.
It was a great trip, and I was able to spend time with people whose lives are much different from ours in America. Some people we saw had nothing but a pair of shorts and the shirts on their backs. Many had no shoes at all. The dirt on their bodies and faces was old dirt, dirt that has been there for weeks, maybe months. I realize the more I see, the less I know. Most of the people I met on these trips are hearing impaired. I have come to realize that people can communicate without knowing each other’s languages. I now feel that true eye contact and the ability to show you care and want to help is stronger than what I ever believed. The ability and gift to personally help a hearingimpaired person get their hearing back directly in front of my eyes is priceless and one of the most truly satisfying feelings I have ever experienced. On this trip, there were approximately 12 fitters. We started early in the morning and stayed until the last person was seen, working one-on-one with each person on an individual basis, seeing around 500 to 750 a day depending on the need. In Delhi, with the additional support of the Starkey India team, we achieved a record-setting day. We saw and helped 1,225 patients in one day. In closing I just would like say that one of our responsibilities as humans is to lend a hand to people in need. That can be as easy as saying “good morning” to another person or holding the door open for someone. There are many ways to be a better person, but it always starts within us. It’s like the Nike commercial says: “Just do it.”
Samantha Brownlie, a talented seven-year old with
a hearing impairment, sent us a book she wrote and illustrated: Samantha’s Fun FM and Hearing Aid Book.
RICHARD S. BROWN Chief Executive Officer, JNBA
The book’s lively, original illustrations and copy chronicle her life with a hearing aid and her use of an FM unit in her classroom at school. Samantha crafted the book as a way to help people understand hearing loss and hearing amplification. We extend our congratulations and gratitude to Samantha!
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As we touch one person, we touch the family, we touch the community, we touch the world. BILL AUSTIN, STARKEY HEARING FOUNDATION
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For Founder BILL AUSTIN , a surprise celebration honors his 50 years of giving the gift of hearing.
Noteworthy
Celebrating 50 Years of Purpose!
More than 500 friends, family and colleagues gathered in honor of Bill Austin’s 50th year as a change-agent in the world of hearing. Over the course of his career, he has transformed the lives of millions, in ways personal and profound. Near the end of the evening’s celebration, standing at the podium, Bill Austin summed up the philosophy that drives his life. He said simply: “We live through what we give.” SPEAKER AFTER SPEAKER—from President George W. Bush to Dr. Maurice Miller, Professor Emeritus of Audiology at New York University, to audiology pioneers Dr. Earl Harford and Dr. Roy Sullivan—expressed their thankfulness. Each underscored the ways in which Bill Austin’s philosophy has transformed the world of the hearing-impaired through business and philanthropy. Dr. Lucille Beck, Chief Consultant, Office of Rehabilitation Services at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, credited Austin with changing hearing care for veterans. “You caused a generation of veterans with mild noiseinduced hearing loss to give hearing aids a try. You caused VA to be an early adopter of technology that has changed veterans lives.” Together with his teams of dedicated volunteers and hearing professionals, he has led hearing missions across the United States and to more than 90 countries. From village to village, on the forgotten back roads around the globe, Bill Austin sets about the task of changing lives. Says Austin, “To see the smile that comes when people connect with hearing — there’s nothing more radiant.”
Alone we can’t do much. Together we can change the world. BILL AUSTIN, STARKEY HEARING FOUNDATION
Looking to the next generation, Austin had this advice, “If you want to be successful, don’t think about what you want—think instead about what someone else needs.”
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Recent Missions
Mexico
Haiti India
Honduras
Philippines Madagascar Mauritius South Africa
In 2011, Starkey Hearing Foundation donated
+110,000
hearing devices
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1,000,000 We’ll give and fit
hearing aids globally by the end of this decade.
Life’s greatest mission is to understand one another. Every year, we travel around the world to deliver the gift of hearing to those who need it. We find adventure. We find challenges. But mostly, we find the wonder and power of human connections.
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The Goal
Mission:
Deliver messages of hope to as many people as possible.
What We Did
Break records and broker understanding.
new delhi jaipur varanasi bhopal
ranchi bhubaneswar
kolkata
Strength in Numbers
In a country with more than a billion people, you have to think big to make a difference. But real change happens one life at a time.
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October 31– November 20, 2011
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Chain Reaction
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Country
INDIA IS A LAND of paradoxes. It’s a rising power in the global economy, yet more than a quarter billion of its people live on less than $1.25 a day. With 16 million people in Delhi and more than a billion in India, the scale can be daunting. You start questioning how it’s possible to help everyone. Then you meet someone like Ibqac. Orphaned and homeless at age 5, he lived on the streets until 11, when he got a second chance from a compassionate woman. Now 19, he wants to make sure other people get chances like he did. That’s why he helped out during Starkey Hearing Foundation’s record-breaking mission in India. “We can’t change all of India,” said Ibqac. “But what I can do is change myself and hope that my change will become infectious and help us all change.” The Foundation helped plant the seeds of change on one day in November. In New Delhi, the team of 25 volunteers worked from dawn until dusk, with equal parts passion and efficiency, to serve every person in attendance. At day’s end, the team had fit 1,225 children—an all-time single-day record for a Starkey Hearing Foundation mission. Pulling off such a feat would have been impossible without the help of Starkey India’s ground logistics. “It is very difficult for me to name any specific individual who stood out among the volunteers. CONTINUED ON PAGE 16 14
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Weeks
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Cities
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Volunteers
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Pieces of Luggage
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Cartons of Cargo
33,000 Hearing Devices Fitted
Infinite Lives changed
special thanks: JNBA + Richard Brown + Joyce White + Starkey India
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It was a team effort,” says Sugata Bhattacharjee, from Starkey India. “All I can say is that I never heard anybody saying ‘No.’ “The team worked like assembly line workers, with speed and accuracy, and that is why we were able to fit so many hearing aids. We executed with the help of all [our] fellow brothers from India.” But that record-setting day was only the beginning. From New Delhi, the team traveled to Ranchi, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Varanasi, Bhopal, and Jaipur. At every stop, they ensured that no one was turned away. The historic, three-week trip saw visits from the nuns of the Mother Teresa Center of Kolkata and Prince of Jaipur, Maharaja Narendra Singh, who offered to host the next Jaipur mission at the royal lawn and courtyard. By the end of the journey, we had fit 16,000 children and adults with hearing aids. Like our friend Ibqac, all these recipients have the potential to become stewards of progress in their families and communities. The ripple effect of a mission like this is that harmony gets multiplied across communities. And as for the historic numbers? The best part is the knowledge that records are made to be broken.
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Mission:
The Goal
Build relationships and enable health.
What We Did Rose above tough conditions.
September 2011
tuxtla gutiérrez, chiapas, mexico
Clear in Mexico An echo-filled space can mean trouble for a hearing mission. Not in our case. In Chiapas, we made a difference for people in need.
THE FOUNDATION OFTEN ventures across the border into Mexico, but September 2011 marked its first mission to southern state of Chiapas. At an open-air pavilion in the city of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, we fitted devices for children and adults who had traveled up to 12 hours across rugged terrain. Chiapas Governor Juan Sabines Guerrero and Tuxtla Mayor Yassir Vázquez greeted recipients as Mayan and Spanish echoed throughout the pavilion. Initially, the noisy environment made it difficult. But the team persevered to successfully serve everyone who came—and the echo offered a resonant soundtrack to the historic event.
special thanks: Jeremy Stroud
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Mission:
The Goal
Forge connections with the people of Mexico.
los mochis, mexico
colima, mexico
Calm After the Storm Hurricane Joda unleashed havoc on Mexico 36 hours before the team arrived. But it wouldn’t stop us from reaching people in need. AFTER A WEEK in Honduras, the Starkey Hearing Foundation team decided to expand the horizon. With the help of Starkey Mexico, the team quickly launched a hearing mission to Colima and Los Mochis, Mexico. Only 36 hours after Hurricane Joda passed through the region, the team arrived ready to change lives. The storm made traveling difficult and many recipients were unable to reach the mission on schedule. To help as many people as possible, the team extended the mission. Despite the adverse conditions and short notice, the mission was a huge success.
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What We Learned
A hurricane is no match for the human spirit.
special thanks: Sandi Young
October 13–18, 2011
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Mission:
The Goal
Deliver hearing to as many in need as possible.
What We Did Turn no one away.
toamasina antananarivo
Moving in Madagascar We found far more patients than expected as we traveled between two cities in Madagascar. The more people we met, the more we came to appreciate the diversity reflected by the beautiful people of this island nation.
IN SIX DAYS, the Starkey Hearing Foundation team fit more than 4,600 children and adults with hearing aids—first in the seaport city of Toamasina and then in beautiful, downtown Antananarivo. Local volunteers from the Rotary Club of Madagascar helped the team successfully fit every patient who came to receive the gift of hearing. Many of the recipients traveled for a full day to reach the fitting tent. On the final day, with just hours before an early afternoon flight to Mauritius, we were able to fit not only the scheduled patients but the crowd of walk-in recipients who arrived that morning.
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October 26 – November 3, 2011
special thanks: Rotary Club of Madagascar
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The Goal
Mission:
Build relationships in a remote island nation.
port louis, mauritius
A Mission in Port Louis
Mauritius is known as the “star and key of the Indian Ocean.” In Port Louis, we unlocked the power of change.
THE MAURITIUS MINISTRY of Health welcomed Starkey Hearing Foundation to Victoria Hospital in Port Louis. The additional patients in Madagascar consumed the hearing aids intended for Mauritius. Fortunately, Kyle and Chris Massey saved the day and flew in to restock our supply just in time. For two days, children from the island nation filled the site. One group of three young boys, who were clearly friends, arrived looking somber and timid. That shyness disappeared as soon as they received their fittings. The boys smiled brightly, laughed and played. It was emblematic of the hope that hearing brings. And it was just one of the countless moments we shared with the children of that beautiful island.
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What We Did
Open doors through the power of hearing.
November 3 & 6, 2011
special thanks: Mauritius Ministry of Health + Kyle and Chris Massey
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Mission: manila, philippines
cebu, philippines bohol, philippines
A New Thrilla’ in Manila In 1975: Manila hosted one of history’s greatest boxing matches. In 2011: it welcomed the world’s biggest boxer— and other athletes—for a different kind of thrill. THE “THRILLA’ IN MANILA,” a 1975 fight between boxing legends Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, is one of the most famous matches in history. Today, the Philippines is home to the world’s greatest current boxer, Manny Pacquiao, who is the only fighter ever to win titles in eight weight classes. But his latest bout wasn’t in the ring; it was in the fight to serve the people. In December, Pacquiao joined forces with Starkey Hearing Foundation at the University of Santo Tomas to deliver the hearing aids to Filipino children and adults. Pacquiao wasn’t the only star athlete on hand at the university. One day earlier, Landon Donavon, fresh off his MLS Championship win, worked with the Foundation team to fit hearing aids. “Seeing them hear for the first time was something I’ll never forget. New Life,” tweeted Donovan at day’s end. From Manila, the Foundation moved onward to the cities of Bohol and Cebu. Although our plane didn’t land squarely on the runway (see photo), we deplaned undaunted. More than 4,400 aids were fit for Filipino children and adults. Now that’s fighting the good fight.
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The Goal
Show what sportsmanship really means.
What We Did
Bring athletes and children together to win at the game of life.
special thanks: M anny Pacquiao + Landon Donovan + University of Santo Thomas
December 1–8, 2011
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Mission:
ulusaba, south africa
Hearing with Richard Branson Those who can hear, often take the sounds of nature for granted.
THE MAJESTIC WILDERNESS of Sir Richard Branson’s game reserve in Ulusaba, South Africa, teems with sound. Starkey Hearing Foundation held the area’s first-ever hearing mission there, at Branson’s Bhubezi Health Clinic, with the help of Branson and Pride ‘N Purpose, a local organization supported by Virgin Unite. It was a remarkable backdrop for those who heard for the first time, with elephants and lions roaming the spectacular surrounding grounds, which open into the Kruger National Park. With the help of Branson, actor Christian Slater and a fantastic team of partners, the mission was a huge success— and a reminder of the beautiful sounds of the natural world.
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The Goal
Launch the first-ever hearing mission in Ulusaba.
What We Learned Every mission is a chance for transformation.
December 2011
special thanks: B hubezi Health Clinic + Medifix + Pride ‘N Purpose + Virgin Unite + Sir Richard Branson + Christian Slater
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Mission: san pedro sula, honduras tegucigalpa, honduras
Digging Deep in Honduras Taken literally, the Spanish word “Honduras” translates to “depths.” While there, we discovered profound reserves of passion in the Honduran people.
STARKEY HEARING FOUNDATION spent October 6 to 13 spreading the gift of hearing to the people of Honduras. Joined by mission sponsors Richard Brown, Audigy Group and Mike Wheeler, the team began with a two-day mission to San Pedro Sula. In an urban setting, under the cover of a tent surrounded by metal-roofed houses, we worked tirelessly to fit those in need. The next stop was the capital city, Tegucigalpa, and thousands of recipients eagerly awaited the team’s arrival. By the time the final child was fit, more than 4,300 hearing aids had been donated to the people of Honduras.
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The Goal
Deliver the gift of hearing to a poor nation.
What We Learned Just how rich in character the Honduran people are.
special thanks: Audigy Group + Mike Wheeler + Richard Brown
October 6– 13, 2011
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Mission: gonaives, haiti
marchland dessalines, haiti port-a-prince, haiti
Back to Haiti
The first visit establishes a profound connection. When we return, we strengthen existing relationships—and deepen the infrastructure of hearing health. Starkey Hearing Foundation returned to Haiti for the third time. Miley Cyrus joined the mission, her second mission with us in Haiti. Cyrus and a dedicated group of Foundation team members worked for three days in three cities, weathering intense Caribbean heat. After the destruction of the 2010 earthquake, the mission struck a decidedly hopeful note—especially when, on Day Two, Haitian President Michel Martelly unveiled a new school in Marchland Dessalines. All the children who were fitted will be able to freely attend. This is precisely why we strive to build global relationships. These children now have a better chance to learn and thrive.
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The Goal
Revisit Haiti to take the gift of hearing to the next level.
What We Learned Everywhere we go offers new opportunities for outreach.
October 2011
special thanks: Digicel + Miley Cyrus + World Wide Village
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the
FUTURE In the past half-century, we’ve witnessed the greatest advancements in science and technology in human history. The impossible has become possible.
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of
HEARING We’re at a moment of unprecedented interconnectedness. But unless that connection serves widespread understanding, it’s for naught. “To hear the sound of peace,” says Bill Austin, “we must learn to listen with our hearts.” If we can do that, then the future will be brighter for all.
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SMALL 1920s
Electric Carbon Hearing Aid
IS BEAUTIFUL Early on, hearing aids were bulky. And yet their heft enabled only this: the abilities to receive a signal and make it louder.
1940s Electric Vaccum Tube
c. 1890
Listening Tube
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Today, hearing devices are sophisticated. They actually understand sound. Cuttingedge software and design means, for example, nearly invisible devices can understand the differences between speech and types of background noise— and then make intelligent decisions about what to do next. In the end, the newest technologies enable us to hear, listen, communicate, and understand each other as well as the world around us. Our visual timeline of hearing devices puts into perspective a fascinating trajectory of change.
1960
Eyeglass Hearing Aids
2011– Invisible-inCanal (IIC)
Receiverin-Canal RIC
19552000s
In-the-Ear (ITE) and In-the-Canal (ITC) Hearing Aids
1960s1990s
2006–
Behind-theEar (BTE)
Completely-inCanal (CIC)
2000–
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What innovations will transform hearing? Which ideas will help us build a future of understanding? Have a look through our lens. You’ll learn about computers in your ears. Fish, with inner ears eerily like ours. Teens who can move thousands to action. Hearing aids that communicate with each other. Will wonders never cease?
THE FUTURE It’s Already Here
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MINIATURIZATION
REGENERATION
It’s revolutionary.
We can unlock the secrets of nature.
The most cutting-edge hearing device is essentially a miniature computer—in your ear. It’s intelligent. It understands one type of sound from another. It knows, for example, that speech differs from background noise, like the noise of a cafeteria. It understands that you’ll want to hear conversation ever so clearly but not the clanking of dishes. And its technology enables the hearing aid in your right ear to communicate with the one in your left. In a sense, the hearing aid in one ear communicates, “I’m hearing this type of sound,” and the other, “I’m hearing that—what should we do?” Together, they decide what you most want to hear.
Scientists at the University of Washington believe zebra fish—a fish smaller than your thumb—hold keys to the future of hearing. Here’s why: Each human ear has microscopic hair cells that conduct sound, enabling us to hear. When they’re damaged, hearing loss occurs. The problem: we can’t grow more of these cells. Once damaged, they’re gone for good. Now you wouldn’t guess it from the looks of zebra fish, but their inner ears are similar to ours. And by studying them, scientists are learning which types of hair cells are resistant to damage, and, amazingly, finding out which ones can regrow. They believe these discoveries will help them understand how to reverse hearing loss within the next 20 years. S TA R K E Y H E A R I N G F O U N DAT I O N
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SOCIAL MEDIA Everyone has the potential to be a change-maker.
Fifteen-year-old Olivia figured she could harness social media to make a difference. She targeted the 19th birthday of her hero Miley Cyrus as an opportunity to raise funds for Starkey Hearing Foundation, where Cyrus is a committed supporter. Olivia tapped her 114,000 Twitter followers as well as fans of mileyonline.com, the site she co-founded. In less than a month, requesting small donations from teens, she raised more than $2,000 for the Foundation—in time for Cyrus’s birthday. The funds raised will enable many impoverished people to receive hearing devices. Using what most of us have at hand—social media and shared interests—Olivia created a ripple. 38
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AWARENESS
MOBILE HEALTH
Fact: most hearing loss in teens can be avoided.
You’re not the only one with a cell phone.
Yet one in five American teens has hearing loss, largely from repeated exposure to loud sounds in daily life, like music heard at high volume through headphones. Our researchers report that when hearing is impaired, hearing-fatigue ensues as the brain struggles to process sounds—like the sound of a teacher’s voice. So classroom learning, for example, becomes a lot tougher. Listen Carefully, the Starkey Hearing Foundation’s hearing education program for youth, raises awareness about the need to protect hearing. It’s the first such program of its kind. With inventive learning activities geared towards helping them experience the fragility of hearing, we can inspire a generation to lower the volume.
According to the Stanford Innovation Review, more than three-quarters of the world’s 5.3 billion mobile phones reside in developing nations. And people are doing more than making calls. They’re using mobile phones for health; the rapidly advancing trend is called mHealth, and has profound potential for change. In South Africa, unused text message space is used to broadcast HIV awareness messages. In Botswana, nurses are tracking malaria outbreaks via smartphone. In the U.S. and elsewhere, mobile apps can controlling hearing aids, measure the decibel level of sounds, reveal close-captioning—and so much more.
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“When I think about kids around the world who don’t have hearing aids but need them, I want to help them. I want to tell them they could have an easier life.”
WISE EARS BEYOND HIS
To the next generation, wearing a hearing aid is yet another cool example of technology at work. And—as research shows— it increases not only their ability to hear, but their motivation to achieve.
LUCAS MORANG is 12 years old and already knows what he wants to do later in life. He wants to spread the gift of hearing around the world. He received his first hearing device from the Starkey Hearing Foundation more than eight years ago. Since then, he’s vowed to share that gift with as many others as possible. With the help of his mother, he hosts four fundraisers a year to benefit the Foundation.
SHF: What was your first fundraiser?
Lucas Morang: The first one was what we call an old-fashioned coffee klatch. The ladies from church make all sorts of cookies, bars and other desserts. Then, when their kids are at school, the ladies get together in the neighborhood for coffee and dessert—and that’s when we hold a silent auction.
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SHF: And now you’re doing four events a year?
Lucas Morang: Yeah. I have three other ones. The second one is a garage sale. The third one is a Halloween Carnival. And the fourth one is the Blizzard Blitz with Adrian Peterson, the Minnesota Viking all-pro running back. It’s held on Martin Luther King Day. It’s a big fishing contest here in Minnesota.
SHF: That’s amazing. Why is fundraising so important to you?
Lucas Morang: After the first fundraiser I ever did, I heard about how many kids I helped. I told my mom, “We should do more, so more kids can hear better.” When I think about kids around the world who don’t have hearing aids but need them, I want to help them. I want to tell them they can have an easier life.
SHF: All this and you still have time for fun?
Lucas Morang: I play sports. One is cross-country. Next semester I’ll play golf. My favorite part of cross country is that I get a chance to improve my running strategy, make new friends—and just run for miles and miles.
SHF: Who inspires you?
Do you have a hero?
Lucas Morang: My hero is Marlee Matlin. The reason why she’s my hero is because we both do the same things, we do the same kinds of fundraisers, and we both have the same kind of hearing problems.
SHF: What’s your favorite sound in the world? Lucas Morang: My favorite sound? I don’t have a favorite sound. I like all the sounds in the world.
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600 million people worldwide have hearing loss.
Crickets have hearing organs on their legs.
THESE DAYS
FACT—
Loud sounds in everyday life are a leading cause of hearing loss. Mosquitoes can hear via tiny hairs on their antennae.
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63 million children worldwide have hearing loss
Hearing aids are so advanced, TV and radio signals stream directly into them.
Cicadas have hearing organs in their stomachs. Snakes can hear through their jawbone.
Back in 1950, when Ray Bradbury published Fahrenheit 451, he summarized the look, feel and purpose of what we know as MP3 earbuds today:
Fewer than 1 in 40 hearing impaired people in developing nations receive hearing aids.
IS A LOT LIKE SCIENCE FICTION Science fiction writers described an improbable, futuristic world decades ago. The future has arrived, however. Often the facts of our world today sound more like science fiction than true life. To prove our point, read on.
Praying mantis have a hearing organ on their chests.
Starkey Hearing Foundation will give & fit 1,000,000 hearing aids globally by the end of this decade.
“And in her ears the little seashells, the thimble radios tamped tight, and an electronic ocean of sound, of music and talk and music and talk coming in, coming in on the shore of her unsleeping mind.” RAY BRADBURY, FAHRENHEIT 451
80% of people with hearing loss in developing nations don’t have access to hearing health professionals.
All proclamations are true.
KEVIN COSTNER serves the greater good.
Firsthand
Kevin Costner If you ask the actor Kevin Costner to name the most important moment in movie history, he’ll tell you it happened during the shift from silent films to films with sound. He’s probably right. How we hear our favorite cinematic moments, from car crashes to whispered confessions, dramatically effects how we experience movies. But Costner’s interest in sound goes beyond the cinema. He’s an avid supporter of Starkey Hearing Foundation and an advocate for hearing health. During a recent visit to the Foundation headquarters in Eden Prairie, Costner strolled with us through a quiet forest, where we asked him about the significance of onscreen sound and the power of hearing to bring people together.
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Why was the transition away from silent films so significant? Back when film was first getting started, we had silent films. When sound came along, that’s when movies really took their biggest leap.
What’s the most important way sound can shape a scene? Sometimes a scene can be helped by sound and sometimes by the idea of no sound at all. We can come out in this forest and think to ourselves why didn’t we bring music with us? Yet if you really take a moment, you realize the quietness itself is a sound. There is something going on here and it doesn’t have to be filled with the beat of a drum. The use of sound is something that has to be carefully thought through, and the idea of it makes a huge difference in what you actually witness.
Why do you support Starkey Hearing Foundation? If you ask Bill, he’d probably say, “I don’t have enough years to do the work that I want to do.” You’re talking about somebody who’s so energetic he’s kind of on fire. He’s touching people around the world and I don’t know any higher form of religion than a person who helps other people.
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Sounds Good
Can you identify that sound? Perhaps you’ve heard it. It’s the echoing boom of an electric guitar. When a guitarist plucks a string, the string vibrates. Magnetic pickups on the neck of the guitar sense the vibration and send signals into the amplifiers—and sound fills the room. Sound is beautiful—and powerful. At high volume, it can do damage, destroying microscopic hair cells in your inner ear. Decibel levels at an average rock concert reach 115 or higher, well above the range that can cause hearing loss. What to do? Bring earplugs to any concert. And turn down the volume of your headphones. Then you’ll be able to fully enjoy the distinct twang of electric guitar for decades to come.
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listen carefully.
Music: we want you to be able to hear it. The sounds of a guitar. The lyrics to your favorite song. One in 5 teenagers has hearing loss due to high-volume sounds in daily life. Like the blare of car horns. Or the music pumping through your headphones. You can’t control the volume of the world around you, of course. But you can lower the volume of your headphones. It’s such a simple thing to do. You’ll save your hearing. Your hearing is fragile. So don’t listen loudly. Listen carefully.
The majority of teen hearing loss can be prevented. Join the movement at www.starkeyhearingfoundation.org
Protect your hearing. Lower the volume.
August 4, 2012 Save the date for the 2012 Gala. Join the conversation www.facebook.com/starkeyhearing