Eden Prairie, MN - Feb.21, 2008 - Actress Marlee Matlin will be Dancing With the Stars thanks in part to Bill Austin, Founder of the Starkey Hearing Foundation, who provided her with new high power hearing instruments she is wearing to hear the music. "These special hearing aids which will fit deep into her ears provide power levels not previously attainable," said Bill Austin. "Enabling Marlee to hear the beat of the music also helps to allow her to dance competitively with her partner, Fabian Sanchez on Dancing With the Stars."
Marlee and Bill Austin have become close friends after she attended the "So the World May Hear" annual fundraiser which raises funds for Starkey Hearing Foundation's domestic and international hearing missions as well as for it's Hearing Conservation Program, Sound Affects. Since then, Austin has appeared twice with Ms. Matlin on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition where they helped a family with deaf parents and gave the gift of hearing to children in San Salvador, El Salvador, San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa, Honduras and Antigua, Guatemala. Bill Austin travels, along with his Foundation staff, all around the world to give the gift of hearing to children in need.
About Starkey Hearing Foundation (SHF)
Since 1973, Starkey has been giving the gift of hearing to the world's underprivileged -especially children - through its internationally recognized mission program and its domestic program, Hear Now. Our mission is to promote hearing health awareness and education; provide hearing instruments and personal listening devices to people in need, and to support and conduct research and education in hearing breakthroughs and technologies. In late 2007, SHF launched the Sound Affects media campaign with public service announcements to educate consumers about responsible listening. Spanning the past 12 months, the Foundation has provided more than 50,000 hearing instruments both domestically and abroad. Since 2000, more than 240,000 hearing instruments have been distributed to persons in need worldwide. Please visit www.sotheworldmayhear.org to learn more
For more information, visit www.starkey.com or the Starkey Web Channel on Audiology Online.
