Message from Jack Ashley

Almost everyone's life has been touched by hearing impairment in some way - a child with glue ear, a teenager with tinnitus, and older person with deteriorating hearing.

Deafness can change lives dramatically. All too often it condemns people to a life of silence, sadness and despair.

Yet it needn't be this way. When my wife and I founded Deafness Research UK in 1985 we did so in the belief that science held the answers to improving life for deaf and hearing-impaired people everywhere. Our confidence in the talents and abilities of scientists and clinicians has proved well founded and, in the intervening years, remarkable progress has been made.

There have been significant breakthroughs in new digital technology to improve the performance of hearing aids and cochlear implants; new therapies have been developed to help relieve the distress of tinnitus and we are now on the brink of testing every new-born baby for hearing loss using technology developed from start to finish in the UK

Despite a small staff and limited resources, Deafness Research UK has played an important part in all of these developments. It has done so thanks largely to unrivalled scientific expertise and advice and to its highly professional and focussed approach to its task.

That task should not be underestimated. It requires an understanding, not only of the needs of deaf people, but of the needs of the research community in a rapidly changing scientific and funding environment. Deafness Research UK has achieved results by successfully identifying high quality research that will deliver improvements in prevention and treatment and by tailoring its grants to reflect the needs of our scientists and maximise the impact of the funds available.

Our greatest challenge now is one of funding. After a fall in legacy income last year, we have been unable to support as much work as we had planned and urgently need to restore our income to previous levels. Given the charity’s total reliance on voluntary support, we don’t underestimate the challenge we face but I am confident that, given your support, we can succeed and continue to make a significant difference to the lives of deaf and hearing-impaired people everywhere.

The Rt Hon Lord Ashley of Stoke CH
President, Deafness Research UK