THE BETTER HEARING INITIATIVE…

A hearing problem can have a very significant effect on a child’s educational development and language skills. Sometimes it is not possible to medically treat the cause of the hearing loss and the solution to better hearing comes with the fitting of appropriate hearing aids.

A key element of the hearing aid fitting is the custom made earmould that couples the hearing aid to the ear.

It is not uncommon for children with permanent hearing loss to be a little self-conscious, embarrassed or think they may be teased about wearing their hearing aids, especially with their peer group. Any steps that can be taken to encourage hearing aid use are to be welcomed and applauded.

With this in mind, Starkey Hearing Technologies set out to devise a technique to insert a picture into the earmould at the development stage. This technique became revolutionary within the hearing aid industry and, as this became more popular, children began to request more personal inserts - including the popular Manchester United Football Club logo.

In May of 2000, Starkey approached Manchester United Football Club, requesting the use of their logo. To Starkey’s delight, Manchester United agreed and gave their 100% support to encourage youngsters who were Manchester United FC supporters to wear their hearing aids with pride.

Added to this, specially developed coloured tubing could also fit into the earmould, in this case red, giving the final touch of customisation and class for a true Red Devil supporter!

The reactions of the hearing impaired youngsters who were the first to receive their Manchester United customised earmoulds were absolutely incredible. Not only were these children over the moon with their new prized possession, but they were the envy of all their school’s MUFC supporters. Starkey Hearing Technologies were delighted and overwhelmed with this positive feedback from the children.

Though, not satisfied to stand still, Starkey set out on a quest to gain more support from other local teams which could be added to their pioneering non-profit making procedure… and so, the Better Hearing Initiative (BHI) was born.

Since 2000, the BHI have worked hard to offer children Premiership Football team crests, Rugby Union and League crests as well as National Teams such as England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

But what happens if you’re not a football fan?

Over the next 7 years the BHI were excited to offer children the Bubblegum character range courtesy of Carlton Cards and fortunate to be granted permission to use all of the Mr. Men and Little Miss characters courtesy of Mrs. Roger Hargreaves. The response to the Mr. Men and Little Miss characters was phenomenal, so much so that Starkey Hearing Technologies have a designated Paediatric Fast Track Team to deal with all the BHI requests!

During this time, Starkey pioneered yet another technique of adding glitter into the earmoulds, to give the Bubblegum and Little Miss range of characters an added dimension. 2004 brought with it another great addition to the BHI; welcoming the much loved BBC children’s characters Tweenies, Teletubbies and Fimbles in an agreement with BBC Worldwide. Shortly after the BBC Worldwide also granted permission to use the Doctor Who characters Dalek, Cyberman, K9 and the Tardis; which again was met with enormous success.

In early 2006, a request for Noddy prompted further growth for the BHI. Approaching Chorion, who holds the Enid Blyton License, they were delighted to support the BHI and thus Noddy, Big ears and friends arrived.

Early in 2012, once again Starkey are on the forefront of innovation within their earmould departments and have successfully created a technique to print all the characters and crests available on acetate with a white spot background which allows the image to appear clearer and brighter within the earmould.

Better hearing means better quality of life.

The Better Hearing Initiative compliments all of their supporters in their commitment to hearing impaired children.

The BHI will continue striving to offer children (and adults) the logos they request and look forward to encouraging more hearing impaired children to be BRAVE and SMART in wearing their hearing aids with PRIDE.