Los Angeles, CA – The House Ear Institute has announced that it will be providing hearing conservation education and screenings to thousands of Audio Engineering Society (AES) members, as well as introducing a more comprehensive hearing health outreach program.
The AES, a longstanding industry partner of the institute’s Sound Partners program, has provided facilities and space at its convention since 1997. The screenings and other hearing health information will be available during show hours in Booth T1 at the AES Convention, from November 5 through 7 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, CA.
Beyond the services on the show floor, the Sound Partners program now features a hearing health hub tailored for the sound profession at www.hei.org, including a free and confidential help-line.
"Since introducing the concept of hearing screenings to engineers at the AES Convention in 1997, we’ve become increasingly aware of the need to expand our outreach services to the audio industry beyond that of just noise-induced hearing loss prevention," said Marilee Potthoff, director of community education and outreach, House Ear Institute, in the press statement.
"The reality is that large numbers of audio professionals already struggle with hearing loss and related issues and are in need of treatment information and medical help. The Sound Partners program is uniquely positioned to serve as a comprehensive hearing health resource for audio and music professionals." she added.
Howard Leight Industries/Sperian and the TEC Foundation are sponsoring the House Ear Institute’s hearing screenings at AES. The institute will have a hearing screening truck providing the pure-one threshold tests to eight people at a time.
The results of the screenings are kept confidential and maintained in a database that tracks hearing screenings performed for AES members since 1997. Many audio professionals return yearly to see if there has been a change in their hearing.
According the HEI, an average of 700 convention attendees and exhibitors take advantage of the free screenings and audiology consultations each year. In addition, over 7,000 pairs of ear plugs along with hearing health materials are distributed to convention attendees.
Licensed audiologists, from the House Ear Institute and House Clinic will be available to counsel participants on their hearing screening results. The institute’s outreach staff will offer additional hearing health information and help for convention attendee’s who have a hearing loss that is already impacting their careers.
SOURCE: The House Ear Institute
