February 14, 2008

ROCKVILLE, Md—The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) announced that Califone International Inc has agreed to become a corporate sponsor of the ASHA’s May is Better Hearing and Speech Month (BHSM) campaign. Since 1927, ASHA’s annual May event has provided the Association and its members with a public education platform to raise awareness about communication disorders and promote treatment that can improve the quality of life for those who experience problems with speaking, understanding, or hearing.

Under the agreement, the campaign will receive financial and in-kind support from Califone to further develop and promote ASHA’s BHSM efforts. With the campaign theme “Helping People Communicate,” some of the items that Califone will be sponsoring include a BHSM campaign-related product, a children’s activity book, and poster promoting BHSM that will be provided to every ASHA member via The ASHA Leader. Califone will also be a sponsor of several ASHA Leader advertisements and campaign Web site materials. Califone will also be promoting the sponsorship via its Web site and other promotional materials.

This sponsorship continues the collaboration efforts between ASHA and Califone. In June 2007, the two organizations forged a relationship to work together to promote ASHA’s award-winning campaign “America: Tuned In Today…But Tuned Out Tomorrow?”

“We are very pleased that Califone will be helping us promote BHSM and our message,” says ASHA President Catherine Gottfred. “Our joining forces is an especially good fit. Tens of thousands of ASHA members who are speech-language pathologists and audiologists work in schools nationwide. Meantime, Califone has a very strong and long-standing reputation as the leading audio manufacturer within school systems around the country.”

“Califone is excited about sponsoring BHSM and plans to be active in using Better Hearing and Speech Month to help educators inform administrators, students, parents, and other school personnel about communication disorders and how to receive help,” says Roscoe Anthony, president of Califone. “We believe that sponsoring BHSM will be an effective way to reach a large and influential segment of the school systems’ decision makers to ensure that a student’s communication disorder does not negatively impact their academic performance. We have been extremely pleased with our relationship with ASHA since we began working with them on the development of the Califone MP3 player. Sponsorship of BHSM is an important next step.”

To learn more about BHSM and the new materials and merchandise available to promote the campaign, visit www.asha.org/bhsm.

SOURCE: ASHA