Listen Up Georgia! Songs for Sound Teams Up with Southern Medical Hearing Center to Help Americans Hear

    ATLANTA, GA, September 27, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Hearing loss affects 1 in 5 Americans and is on the rise among all age groups, posing serious health and wellness risks. Yet only 16 percent of physicians routinely perform hearing exams. The #HEARtheMUSIC Project is making it's way across the nation, stopping at the Georgia State Fair from Sept. 30 - Oct. 9, to encourage people to do something about it.

The project is the culmination of one Nashville family's journey with deafness. Jaime Vernon gave birth to a baby girl in 2008. "Every night for 13 months, I sang to Lexi as she squirmed and cried and refused my lullabies," Vernon shares. "All those nights as I cried too because we couldn't connect the way I did with my mom - I had no idea she couldn't hear me."

After a series of setbacks, including no newborn hearing screening and a "wait and see" response from doctors, Lexi was diagnosed with profound deafness when she was 14 months old. She was implanted with the bilateral cochlear implants that changed her life at 19 months old. Today Lexi is a typical 8 year-old who enjoys school, excels in sports and loves country music (her Uncle is Gary LeVox of Rascal Flatts). Her parents founded Songs for Sound to give everyone the chance to hear and heal with music.

The #HEARtheMUSIC Project travels the nation with a mobile hearing clinic sponsored by Phonak (global leader in hearing technology), the Memorial Foundation, and Cochlear Americas (global leader in cochlear implants). The clinic administers free hearing screenings on Ultimate Kiosk touch-screen systems, teaches noise-induced hearing loss prevention and dispenses free hearing protection. (Go to http://vimeo.com/177808312 to see the clinic in action.)

Results from the 2015 pilot tour of the #HEARtheMUSIC Project highlight the urgency of its mission. Over 2000 people were given hearing screenings and nearly half (48%) were referred for further testing, including:

86% of veterans
49% of adults
38% of teens
20% of children

Songs for Sound e-mails and calls each referral to provide a clinic-finder and help schedule full audiology. "Only 14 percent of the 48 million Americans living with hearing loss take advantage of today's low hassle hearing solutions and we want to encourage everyone who is referred by our clinic to seek help so they can avoid a host of complications including depression, anxiety, Alzheimer's, dementia and job loss," says Vernon.

In addition to the Georgia State Fair, the #HEARtheMUSIC Project visits the following sites around Atlanta in September and October:

Brown Bag Concert Series Sept. 22 11:30am-1:30pm
Canton YMCA Sept. 22 4pm-7pm
Canton YMCA Sept. 23 8am-12pm
Dixie Wing Warbirds Sept. 24-25 9am-4pm
YMCA Alpharetta Sept. 26-27 9am-5pm
Georgia State Fair Sept. 30-Oct.9 TBA
Dalton Whitefield Senior Center Oct. 12 8:30am-4pm

To join the #HEARtheMUSIC Movement, to get a free hearing screening, to volunteer, to give, or to learn more, visit www.songsforsound.com.

About Songs for Sound
Songs for Sound is a Nashville based 501c3 charity that strives to protect and restore hearing, using music as inspiration and outreach, to improve the lives of the 360 million people suffering from hearing loss. The #HEARtheMUSIC Project 2016-2017 Tour aims to provide 25,000+ free screenings at 200+ events in 25 states across the nation.

Sponsorships are available by contacting [email protected].

For additional information on Songs For Sound visit www.songsforsound.com.

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