Leslie Cotter
Copyright 2000
At Starkey Labs in the Twin Cities, Bill Austin has a hallway with photos of all the celebrities he has fitted with hearing aids. It is quite an impressive collection. Some living, some passed away. For example: Buddy Ebson, and four members of the Osmond family.
All the past presidents currently wear Starkey aids as do past candidate Walter Mondale, Richard Petty and the Unser brothers (race drivers), Steve Martin, Ray Charles, Pete Townsend, Mickey Hart, and Huey Lewis.
And tons more; it is a shame that they don't talk about it more. What a difference it would make in their psyches as well as the rest of the world in accepting hearing loss.
Look what Michael J Fox has done for Parkinsons disease. And what Jerry Lewis has done for Muscular Dystrophy, and what Christopher Reeve has done for spinal cord injuries ...
That is the force behind H.E.A.R. Hearing Education and Awareness for Rockers: A bunch of the stars trying to educate young rockers about hearing loss.
But we need more, we need Steve Martin to include jokes about his aids, We need President Ford complaining that he couldn't hear anything during his MRI because they made him take his aids out. We need Pete Townsend using a neckloop during his concert (he uses special protection monitors). We need Richard Thomas interrupting his interview with Leno to change batteries.
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