Free Hearing Tests to Be Available at 2,000 Sites
Do you have a hearing problem--or does everyone around you mumble?
Find out Saturday at the first National Day of Hearing Testing.
Free of charge, if you don’t already wear a hearing aid, you can go to one of 2,000 sites around the country and have a hearing test performed by a hearing technician. If you can’t schedule a hearing test on that day, you can pick up a voucher--available at your nearest participating provider--for a free hearing-test appointment through the end of May.
Self Help for Hard of Hearing People, a consumer organization, launched this effort with the National Institutes of Health, professional and advocacy groups, and health providers and sponsors from the hearing-aid industry.
Hearing loss can create many problems in people’s lives. Yet, typically, it takes an average of seven years before someone with a hearing loss seeks help. It’s estimated that as many as 75% of people who could benefit from hearing aids do not wear them. Thirty out of every 1,000 school-age children have a hearing problem, and one out of three people has a hearing loss by age 60.
Lists of participating providers can be accessed at https://www.shhh.org. You can also call local chapters of Self Help for Hard of Hearing People for this information:
* San Fernando Valley: (818) 785-8858
* Conejo Valley: (805) 495-6380
* Lakewood/Long Beach: (562) 429-0720
* Inland Empire: (909) 797-1692
* Mission Viejo: (949) 587-1344
* Laguna Hills: (949) 859-4088
* Escondido: (760) 747-3813
* San Diego: (760) 745-4577
* Santa Barbara: (805) 967-5241
Information about Los Angeles testing sites can be accessed by calling the San Fernando Valley or Lakewood/Long Beach numbers.