From The Hearing Review:
Hearing loss is an often-overlooked disability of Americans who have served in the military, even though nearly 30% of veterans return home from active duty with diminished hearing. Now Clarity, a division of Plantronics Inc, and The EAR Foundation, Nashville, Tenn, a national non-profit organization devoted to education, prevention and treatment of hearing loss, are calling on the country music industry to help bring attention to this important issue and to raise money for disabled veterans.
Country music artists were asked to help the cause by autographing a donated Takamine guitar at the Academy of Country Music Awards event May 15. The guitar will then be displayed as a traveling exhibit at 21 Disabled American Veterans (DAV) air shows throughout the summer in order to raise funds to support the DAV’s service and outreach for veterans.
Several prominent music artists agreed to sign the guitar before the ACM Awards. ACM Award winners Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry of Montgomery Gentry were the first to donate their signatures for the DAV.
“Giving our autographs is the least we can do to help our veterans,” says Gentry. “When our men and women in uniform are asked to protect our country, they don’t think twice. So if the DAV needs our signature on a guitar, consider it done. Country music has a strong tradition of supporting our troops and I hope every artist follows our lead.”
Clarity and The EAR Foundation are not new to the ACM Awards. The two organizations have attended the past three years, raising awareness of hearing loss issues and donating products to help musicians who suffer from noise induced hearing loss (NIHL).
Read the full text of the article here
Posted by John Hawbaker, Clarity
Technorati tags: Hearing Loss, Country Music, Montgomery Gentry, Veterans, Disabled American Veterans, EAR Foundation, Clarity