The "Buds," Hearing Loss Prevention Advocates ASHA Slated for Boost from the Consumer Electronics Association
(May 30, 2007 - Rockville, MD) Coinciding with May's Better Hearing and Speech Month, the Rockville, MD based American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), and the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) of Arlington, VA have agreed to work together to further develop and promote www.listentoyourbuds.org, a unique ASHA created on-line resource designed for educating young children, parents, and educators about the potential risk of hearing loss from unsafe usage of personal audio technology.
ASHA is the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for more than 127,000 speech-language pathologists, audiologists, and speech and hearing scientists. CEA is the preeminent trade association promoting growth in the consumer technology industry through technology policy, events, research, promotion and the fostering of business and strategic relationships.
"We are very grateful for and welcoming of this opportunity to work with CEA in disseminating our vital message about the importance of safe usage of personal audio technology," ASHA President Noma Anderson observes. "With May being Better Hearing and Speech Month, the timing couldn't be better for this announcement that we are joining forces."
"CEA's goal is to keep consumers listening for a lifetime. Once consumers understand the potential risks associated with improper use of personal audio devices, then protecting their hearing is easy," said CEA President and CEO Gary Shapiro. "We're pleased to support ASHA on this important public education campaign."
Under the agreement, ASHA will receive financial and in-kind support from CEA to further develop and promote www.listentoyourbuds.org. The development will likely take the form of periodic refreshing of features of the web site, which has an interactive game children can play while they learn about safe listening. Meantime, much of the promotion of the site is expected to be through on-line educational interactive sites such as whyville.net, which attracts hundreds of thousands of young children.
The ASHA-CEA announcement is the latest news about America: Tuned in Today...But Tuned Out Tomorrow? an ASHA public education campaign which focuses on the potential risk of hearing loss from unsafe usage of personal audio technology.
Since December 2005, the campaign has led raising public awareness about the issue. Earlier this month, it was promoted on the Times Square message board in New York City. In addition, the campaign has drawn global media coverage, commissioned the first ever national polling on usage habits of current personal audio-technology, made cross-cultural minority outreach a focus of its activities, and appealed to a variety of ages through nationally disseminated broadcast PSAs and tools like the kid-friendly "Buds" web site.
Campaign materials are cited by NIH and the CDC in public presentations. Recently, the American Society of Association Executives gave ASHA an Associations Move America Forward award for America Tuned In . . . Also, Pause Parent Play, a Washington-based campaign designed to empower parents to choose what their kids watch, heard and play from TV and movies to video games and music, has highlighted the campaign to its members.
And the rock group O.A.R. has become a supporter of ASHA's campaign. The band will soon make PSAs for dissemination later this year.
"We look forward to working with CEA in the coming months," ASHA's Anderson notes. "It will be exciting to work together on a public education effort of such importance."
About the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
ASHA is the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for more than 127,000 audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and speech, language, and hearing scientists. Audiologists specialize in preventing and assessing hearing disorders as well as providing audiologic treatment including hearing aids. Speech-language pathologists identify, assess, and treat speech and language problems including swallowing disorders. For more information about noise, hearing loss, and noise prevention, go to www.asha.org or 1-800-638-TALK.
About the Consumer Electronics Association
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is the preeminent trade association promoting growth in the consumer technology industry through technology policy, events, research, promotion and the fostering of business and strategic relationships.
CEA represents more than 2,100 corporate members involved in the design, development, manufacturing, distribution and integration of audio, video, mobile electronics, wireless and landline communications, information technology, digital imaging, home networking, multimedia and accessory products, as well as related services that are sold through consumer channels. Combined, CEA's members account for more than $140 billion in annual sales. CEA's resources are available online at www.CE.org, the definitive source for information about the consumer electronics industry.
CEA also sponsors and manages the International CES - Defining Tomorrow's Technology. All profits from CES are reinvested into industry services, including technical training and education, industry promotion, engineering standards development, market research and legislative advocacy.
