I thank God everyday for my hearing. I have worked with the deaf, hard of hearing, blind, mentally challenged kids. Bill Austin is a hero to me. He takes hearing aids to Mexico and helps children to hear. Way to go Awesome Bill!

I've worn a headset during working 13 yrs off customer service jobs. My hearing is not as good as it used to be, especially with say car noises, running water etc. I have no insurance but would like to see if I could get some help with my hearing problem.

[ tacticaly, people with authority to make decision in time of life or death ] a 2-hours of delays is called: BLUNDER. it's english isn't? there is no prevention if a suicidal human being is determine to commit murder. but a quick stoppage of that action within minutes will not allow the killer to increase the number of deaths sa they wish. so, lets re-visit the facts.........STEGER-2 hours delays/32 deaths it's the fact of the case. 4.16.2007

STEGER/ 2 hour delays/ 32 dead...facts

I have recently used two Starkey hearing aids provided by the VA after losing my hearing in peacetime during basic training at the age of 23. I was fortunate to have had hearing during my formative years. I cannot imagine what it is like to be be as young as the children in this story and not have been able to hear. God bless Bill Austin and his foundation.

I am going deaf have been since I was 8 I finally had the chance to get hearing aides when I worked in the coal mines in Utah. The state helped me get another pair but they are worn out and I'm in need of new ones but the state says they can't buy anymore for me a friend told me about the starkey foundation I hope and pray they will help me one day. Its amazing to be able to hear birds, a baby crying everything is so different ty for having such a foundation.

I was born hard of hearing and could not hold the job I do without hearing aids. I actually passed my first hearing test in kindergarten. I was facing the man doing the test when he reached down with his left hand and touched the machine I raised my right and vice versa. Hearing impairment runs very strong in my father's family so my mother insisted on a retest this time they had one way mirrors and I did not pass. I got my first pair of hearing aids for first grade. I must say I do take them out when I'm alone as the quiet is peaceful! It is great that Mr. Starkey is helping people to get help they otherwise would not. One of my hearing aids I won at a drawing they had at a fair where you were supposed to refer someone who needed one. The lady saw me filling only the referal part out and said oh that is for the person who needs the aid and I said that would be me. Mine were 10 years old at the time so it was nice to have a new one and a year later I purchased the second one. I would not have been able to do my job without the new aid as I had no phone switch on the old one. So I won a free hearing aid, a longaberger basket(for the person doing the referral), and got a higher paying position out of it.

That is a beautiful story and one well deserved. I have been wearing a hearing aid since the age of 5 years old and I can not thank God enough for giving me back my hearing. I was in a fire and due to the different medication I was given, I had a allergic reaction to one which one we don't know. As I started school my teachers wonder why I never respond to them or the kids, I was tested and I lost part of my hearing. I had to wear two hearing aids but now I am down to one that was 40 someting years ago. I wish I could do something to help others like myself although I am asked by some people to talk to people that they know who is like myself I jump to the chance because it is a blessing to help others.
I don't understan why insurance compies pay for abortions and nothing at all with hearing!! How can we change this??

"Those who serve others also serve God."

To the anonymous writer, My one teacher noted three main threads in all religions: a simple life without excess, a daily practice, and a purpose beyond self.

I hope that the story about Mr. Austin encourages others to give to others. I am an employee of Starkey Labs and also have a portion of my check deducted;a program started to help Mr. Austin with his endeavor.
Whatever someone can give to help the poor, no matter the amount is something that God expects of us. Those who serve others also serve God. Thank you for the story.

I am Nancy Callison working with the Flying Samaritans. We have a hearing clinic here in Playas Rosarito Mexico. We frequently experience an adult or child hearing for the first time. WE must ask that our patients pay a small amount for their hearing aides amd or molds, we also take donated aides to be refurbished. We would be greatful for any help from Mr Starkey.

Mr Williams, I respect you and those who went before you reporting at NBC - I have watched NBC news since 1957. However, your organization's dismissal of Imus causes me to shift my viewing of the nightly news to another source. I wish you well but I don't know how you can sleep at night working for this organization.

Thank you so much for sharing. This is such a welcome story amidst all the violence, hatred, and pain we have spent so much time looking at this week. Having worked with the deaf and with children with Autism, I know how amazing it can be to see change effected. Thanks again.

A beautiful story! Thank you for sharing it! My nephew was diagnosed right before he started school. Imagine all those years of frustration and acting out on his part, without anyone really getting to the root of his problem. Today, he is a wonderful, successful man. When he was in college, he would remove his hearing aids when he studied - less destraction!

A moving portrayal. I wish my grandmother was here to have witnessed it. She died in 1995, at the age of 100, in Austin, Texas. After moving to town from the country at the end of the War (1945), she began working at the Texas State Hospital (a mental hospital), in the women's wing. She also volunteered to tutor children in the Texas State School for the Deaf. Both of these places were within a mile of her little apartment on Avenue A, and she walked there. People in the country who didn't know how, or want, to raise a deaf or blind child brought them to Austin, where they were warehoused ..... in those days the conditions at the School for the Deaf were often negligent, cruel and abusive. But she did what she could -- teaching someone to tie a shoe, to tell a little joke, and so on -- until the children were 18 years old, and released. Some of them went right to the Texas State (mental) Hospital. I wrote a book about her ("Secret Ladies"), which is on shelf at the Library of Congress and the Dallas Public Library. She didn't seek credit, and believed there'd be progress. But I didn't want the progress to cover up what life had been like for so many children, and adults -- without family or friends -- involuntarily confined to state institutions. Thanks.

Wonderful story as a person who has dealt with a hearing loss since birth I understand how many people take their senses for granted (i.e. hearing seeing ect.) to be able to hear is a precious gift one that ought not to be squandered. I thank you for bringing this wonderful story to light the world is lucky to have someone like Bill Austin helping out.

Nice story Peter! For a single person to go without a pair of glasses or a hearing-aid should honestly be a crime. I remember a similar story of a man totally blind since birth who finally had surgery so he could see. After the surgery, the man still could not see even though the surgery had gone perfectly well. The doctor could not explain this. The patient actually had to train himself to process the images he was seeing for the first time. For example, he held up a pensile in front of his face and clasping it almost desperately said pensile, pensile, pensile over and over. Eventually, his brain must have taken the que because he eventually was able to see it. This story was given to me by people who track lost people in the woods (the Tracker School who have found 1000s of lost people and criminals as well). They said you have to teach the mind that it really can see tracks as plain as day even though a thousand people would swear there was nothing there.

While I’m at it, can I recommend Tom Brown Jr. of the Tracker School (author of 16 books about Native American skills) as a person “Making a Difference?”