Who We Are

Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) is a non-profit, self-help group dedicated to education, advocacy and support for people who do not hear well and those around them.

We are the nation's leading organization representing people with hearing loss.
As a self-help group, we assist each other in learning how to adjust to living with hearing loss.
HLAA is working to eradicate the stigma associated with hearing loss.
We are raising public awareness about the need for prevention and the importance of regular hearing screening.
Our advocacy impacts communication access, public policy, research, public awareness, and service delivery.
Our work at the national office impacts legislation and FCC regulations.
We provide timely and reliable information through our websites, Hearing Loss Magazine, e-news, the Academy of Hearing Loss Support Specialists, chat forums and our annual convention.

It has been said that because someone invented a wheel, we drive cars. Rocky Stone, SHHH/HLAA founder, lost his hearing. He began a search to deal with living with hearing loss. He invited friends into his home to discuss their efforts and feelings. Then, in 1979, he incorporated Self-Help for Hard of Hearing People, SHHH (the wheel). Since that time, the organization has grown to an international entity with a worldwide impact. In the United States, we are 14 state organizations and 200 chapters (the car). He lost his hearing, and we learn to ask what others are doing to cope, share strategies and support each other through programs and social activities. Visit: www.hearinglossky.org .

In 1984 three Kentucky women got together to discuss living with their hearing loss. Eventually, they formed Derbytown SHHH, now known as HLAA-Kentuckiana. Over the years, chapters have developed in Northern Ky., Frankfort and Lexington. However, the Louisville Chapter, Kentuckiana, continues to grow with members from the greater Louisville area, LaGrange, Fort Knox, Springfield, Bardstown, and Edwardsville, New Albany and Salem, Indiana.

IN 2009, three HLAA commuters from Bardstown and Springfield decided a chapter was needed closer to home. Becky Crawford, Carlene Ballard and Marilyn Fenwick founded the Kentucky Home Chapter of Hearing Loss Association of America. In that first year, they brought in speakers on Hearing Aids, Tinnitus, Balance and Meniere's Disease, CapTel Telephones, the Telecommunication Assistance Program, The Ky Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Emergency Management for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and many other topics. Visit: www.hearingloss.org .

Overall, it is important to realize that we are "you," individuals who have lost some or all of their hearing. We are the families, friends, co-workers and business contacts who are "around" those with a hearing loss. We number 36 million people in the United States who have a hearing loss according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Some 60% of us range in age from 24 to 60. One in five of us are 18 to 24. Nearly 50% of our seniors over 60 have some degree of hearing loss. You are not alone.

Marilyn Fenwick

Marilyn Fenwick is HLAA's representative on the Ky Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. She is a founding member of HLAA-KY Home Chapter and a member of HLAA-Kentuckiana. With four out of five of her family members experiencing hearing loss and as a bilateral wearer of hearing aids, she truly understands the challenges of hearing loss. Over the years, she has dealt with hearing loss in the family, school, and work environment. As a Steering Committee member, she would like to welcome and encourage everyone to join us each month for the support, fellowship, and information available to HOH people.

Carlene Ballard

Carlene Ballard is a founding member of HLAA Kentucky Home Chapter and a member of HLAA- Kentuckiana. Carlene has moderate to severe hearing loss and has been wearing bilateral hearing aids for 19 years. She has an active lifestyle and understands the importance of receiving information on how to deal with hearing loss in our world today. She enjoys the support and friendship of the many people she has met thru HLAA along with the information she has gained.

Becky Crawford

Rebecca Crawford is a graduate of Georgetown College where she earned her BS degree. Later she graduated from the University of Kentucky, Elizabethtown campus, where she earned her Associate's Degree in Nursing. She is now retired after serving as a school nurse at the Bardstown City School for 25 years. After several rounds of hearing problems and surgeries, she now wears two hearing aids. She has been active in the Hearing Loss Association of America and was one of the leaders in the formation of the Kentucky Home Chapter of HLAA. She was appointed by Governor Steve Beshear to represent AARP on the KY Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (KCDHH).