WASHINGTON, DC–May is Better Hearing Month, a great time for hearing professionals to spread awareness in their communities of the importance of hearing one’s best. And, when it comes to accurate and useful information on hearing, how to protect it, and how to address hearing loss, there’s no better source than the Better Hearing Institute (BHI).
BHI is a not-for-profit corporation that, since 1973, has been educating the public about the neglected problem of hearing loss and what can be done about it. For Better Hearing Month 2012, it is reaching out to America’s employers to help ensure that they recognize the value of hearing health in the workplace and to encourage them to include hearing health in their wellness programs.
HEARING IS A KEY ISSUE IN THE WORKPLACE
More than half of U.S. employers use wellness programs to improve employee health and productivity, lower healthcare costs, and create a corporate culture of wellness that makes their businesses more profitable. Yet, despite that, far too many organizations fail to appreciate the importance of their employees’ hearing to their job performance.
Hearing health professionals, of course, are well aware that when hearing loss is identified, acknowledged, and properly addressed, it need not detract from a person’s job performance, earnings, or quality of life. So, that makes them the natural people in their community to share their expertise with local employers.
As BHI points out, there are simple things that employers can do to assist their employees with unaddressed hearing loss, and, in doing so, benefit all concerned. Including hearing health in their wellness programs is an important first step.
LOCAL MEDIA KIT AVAILABLE FREE
For May 2012, the institute is inviting hearing health professionals nationwide to go to its site www.betterhearing.org and use the free resources they will find in BHI’s new local media kit. Here they will find a wealth of valuable tools, including:
- A local customizable press release for hearing health professionals (under 2012 BHM Campaign)
- hearing loss/health facts for the press
- a reprint of the article “Assisting Employees with Hearing Health”
- an NAPS news feature, “Hearing better may mean earning more”
- an income and hearing loss study, with a fact sheet showing that “Hearing less means earning less.”
