Royal reception for Deafness Research UK
25 May 2010
The country's medical charity for hearing impaired people, Deafness Research UK, has marked its silver jubilee with a prestigious Royal reception in the State Apartments, St James’s Palace in the presence of the charity’s Patron, His Royal Highness, The Duke of York KG.
At the reception on 25 May, His Royal Highness, who has been Patron of Deafness Research UK since 1986, met researchers, supporters and many of those who have benefited from the charity’s work and was informed of the charity’s new Auditory Centres of Excellence Initiative which aims to expand hearing research teams across the country.
Vivienne Michael, Chief Executive of Deafness Research UK, said: “His Royal Highness has done so much to support us over the years, encouraging others to join the charity’s fundraising, so vital to new research, and helping raise awareness of our unique work. We are delighted that His Royal Highness has shown his support once again today, helping us mark the charity’s achievements over the last quarter of a century and announce our plans for the future. This has been a wonderful opportunity to thank our donors, to demonstrate how much we value their support and how vital they remain to the work we do.”
Speaking about Deafness Research UK, His Royal Highness said: “During my service in the Royal Navy I served in some very noisy places and the flight deck of a ship is one of the noisiest I know. This can cause hearing damage that can occur through prolonged exposure to loud noise. Research into noise induced hearing loss and tinnitus is just one aspect of the vital work that Deafness Research UK supports through its grants programme. I am certain that through their continued work with this and other areas of deafness and importantly with our support, this organisation can make a significant contribution to a positive future for the deaf community.”
Andrew Goodwin was present to give the Duke and the audience a moving account of the impact sudden deafness had on his own life: “I woke up one morning completely deaf with no warning at all,” explained Andrew. “I was pretty much left to fend for myself by the health service and after three months I had no job, no money and was contemplating suicide. Fortunately, with a lot of support I got through it; and hearing aids have come on in leaps and bounds. The pair I wear now give me enough hearing that I felt confident enough to get a job and be a useful member of society again. I believe research is needed to discover not only why people go suddenly deaf, but to improve hearing aids still further.”
Vivienne Michael said, “Today we are rightly celebrating our achievements which have included the development of a simple painless test to identify deaf babies at birth, helping to bring digital hearing aids to the general public and improved cochlear implants for the profoundly deaf. However we must also look to the future and we have also announced today an important new initiative which will expand research teams at Auditory Centres of Excellence across the UK.”
The charity’s Auditory Centres of Excellence (ACE) initiative builds on the success of its UCL Ear Institute appeal which raised over £1 million, and will expand hearing research teams at four more state-of-the-art research centres across the country – in Manchester, Sheffield, Cambridge and Nottingham. Each ACE will be tackling the challenge of understanding and treating deafness and hearing impairment in different ways but, as at the Ear Institute, the focus will be on stimulating the multi-disciplinary, collaborative approach that is so important to making progress in hearing research and on delivering real clinical benefit to hearing impaired people. The programme will advance research into childhood deafness, improving hearing aids and cochlear implants, treating tinnitus and preventing hearing loss and restoring hearing.
“Our new Auditory Centres of Excellence will be invaluable in enabling us to deliver the results the deaf community truly deserves. They will help us build on our work to date and act as the platform for the next 25 years of developments in the field of Deafness Research in the UK,” added Ms Michael. “Deafness affects one in seven of the UK population, a staggering nine million people, yet there is still less than £2 per person spent on research into deafness each year.”
For information on deafness and deafness-related conditions e-mail or visit Deafness Research UK’s website at www.deafnessresearch.org.uk
ENDS
About Deafness Research UK
- Deafness Research UK is the country’s only charity dedicated to finding new cures, treatments and technologies for deaf, hard of hearing and other hearing impaired people.
- The charity supports high quality medical research into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of all forms of hearing impairment including tinnitus.
- The Deafness Research UK Information Service provides free information and advice based on the latest scientific evidence and informed by leading experts. The Information Service can be contacted on Freephone 0808 808 2222
- For more information on research into deafness, tinnitus and other hearing conditions, log on to the website at www.deafnessresearch.org.uk where you can access a wide range of information. Alternatively you can e-mail Deafness Research UK at
- One in seven people in the UK – almost nine million people - suffer hearing loss.
- Deafness Research UK was founded in 1985 by Lord (Jack) and Lady Ashley of Stoke.
- In January 2008, Action for Tinnitus Research (ATR) was linked with Deafness Research UK under a uniting direction order under section 96(6) of the Charities Act 1993.
Press enquiries
Jon Gardner, BeyondPR. www.beyondpr.co.uk Mobile 07930 697773. Direct line 0114 275 6996. e-mail:
Ref: DRUK0254 – St James’s Palace Reception
