News release from the Starkey Hearing Foundation:
Award-Winning Country Duo Maddie & Tae Headline Starkey Hearing Foundation Event May 14
Listen Carefully Hearing Health National Campaign Recognizes Students for Winning VideosGERMANTOWN, Maryland (May 10, 2016) /PRNewswire/ — Country Music Association and Radio Disney Music Awards-duo Maddie and Tae will join Starkey Hearing Foundation on Saturday, May 14 to celebrate six high school students, whose video submissions for the national Listen Carefully hearing health campaign took top honors. Festivities at Northwest High School Auditorium in Germantown, Maryland, will culminate with the million-selling singer/songwriters performing a private live show. The event is open to Northwest High School students with their valid ID.
“We’re really excited that Maddie and Tae are lending their support in raising awareness of hearing loss and the students who made these outstanding videos,” said Starkey Hearing Foundation Executive Director Brady Forseth. “Teenage hearing loss is growing at almost epidemic proportions and the videos produced by these students, and others around the country, do a tremendous service by making other students aware of risks to their hearing.” Currently, one in six American teens has noise-induced hearing loss from loud sounds. It is a widespread public health threat, but very few people know about it. This hearing loss is irreversible, but it is also preventable.
Maddie and Tae’s live show will feature songs they penned for their critically acclaimed debut START HERE (Dot Records), including their new single “Sierra” and Nashville Scene’s 15th Annual Country Music Critics Poll Single of the Year “Girl In A Country Song.” Only the third female duo to have their debut single hit #1 in the history of the Billboard Country Singles chart, the pair from Sugarland, Texas and Ada, Oklahoma respectively recently wrapped up their own headlining START HERE Tour. They will spend the summer on the road with both Lee Brice and Brad Paisley.
“Hearing is something we take for granted,” says multi-instrumentalist Maddie Marlow. “Given the growth in teen hearing loss, we are so glad to help support the Starkey Hearing Foundation’s efforts to inform and raise awareness among young people.”
Adds Tae Dye, “Honoring these students who’ve produced such great videos makes us happy. Giving back by using your creativity is what Maddie and I have always done, and this is such an important message.”
The Foundation will fly finalists and their parents to Washington, DC for the event, recognizing 1st place winners freshman Miranda Pierce, sophomore Christopher Hall and senior Tye Gray from Northwest High School in Germantown, MD; runner-up junior Isaac Romary from New Tech Academy in Fort Wayne, IN and 3rd place victors from Manistee Area Schools in Manistee, MI sophomores Chloe Pepera and Billie Gajewski. The students’ videos were voted the best among hundreds of entries in the Listen Carefully competition sponsored by Starkey Hearing Foundation, a philanthropic organization that uses hearing as a vehicle to promote caring around the globe. To date, The Foundation has given away more than one million hearing devices to those in need and is on pace to donate another million by the year 2020.
About the Starkey Hearing Foundation
Starkey Hearing Foundation is a public charity founded by William F. Austin that provides the gift of hearing to people in need in the U.S. and around the world. Disabling hearing loss affects more than 360 million people, including 32 million children, yet many do not have access to the hearing devices that can enhance connection and understanding. The Foundation pledges to provide more than one million hearing aids to people in need by 2020 through international and domestic missions, promotes hearing health awareness, and grants funding to mission-aligned organizations. Connect with Starkey Hearing Foundation on Facebook and Twitter, or visit www.starkeyhearingfoundation.org.
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