Siemens Hearing Instruments Help Deaf Charity Celebrate 100 Year Anniversary

LONDON, June 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

Siemens is supporting the Royal National Institute for Deaf People's (RNID) centenary year which was launched at a recent party held at Buckingham Palace in conjunction with the charity's patron, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh's 90^th birthday.

After 100 years as the RNID it will now be known as Action on Hearing Loss and will help those who are hard of hearing, deaf and suffering tinnitus.

Siemens Hearing Instruments, who is a key sponsor of the charity's centenary year, will be opening up its popular Friends and Family scheme to members of Action on Hearing Loss. The scheme, currently allows all Siemens employees, and their friends and family, to benefit from discount hearing instruments when purchased through Approved Siemens Partners. Siemens began industrial production of hearing instruments 100 years ago and has set the standard for technological innovation ever since. Siemens Audiological Engineering Group aims to contribute to the quality of life of hearing impaired people by providing solutions for better hearing and understanding through empowerment of communication, and thereby removing a possible barrier to personal development.

Trevor Andrews, Managing Director of Siemens Hearing Instruments,whichprovides a comprehensive range of digital hearing instruments and has been at the forefront of audiological innovation for over 125 years, comments: "Our Friends and Family scheme will be a great offering from Action on Hearing Loss during its landmark celebrations. We support Action on Hearing Loss as It is vital that we do all we can to dispel the stigma and myths that still surround deafness and hearing instruments. The celebrations mark 100 years of raising awareness of hearing health and it is through having greater awareness of the situations which people with hearing difficulties face, enabling better understanding and a more positive attitude towards social inclusion."    

Chief Executive of Action on Hearing Loss, Jackie Ballard, says: "Entering our second century as Action on Hearing Loss better describes all our work for people with all types of hearing loss, and reflects our urgency in trying to reach the four million people in the UK who should be benefiting from hearing aids but have not yet taken action on their hearing loss."

Notes to editors:

About Siemens Hearing Instruments

Siemens Hearing Instruments Ltd (Crawley, West Sussex) provides a comprehensive range of digital hearing instruments and software, patient management systems and audiology equipment to the National Health Service, independent retail dispensers and national chains in the UK. It is the UK operation of Siemens Audiologische Technik (S.A.T.), based in Erlangen, Germany. Part of the Siemens Medical Group, S.A.T. has been at the forefront of audiological innovation for over 125 years and is the world's market leader in the design and manufacture of audiological products. http://www.siemens.co.uk/hearing

About Siemens Healthcare 

The Siemens Healthcare Sector is one of the world's largest suppliers to the healthcare industry and a trendsetter in medical imaging, laboratory diagnostics, medical information technology and hearing aids. Siemens offers its customers products and solutions for the entire range of patient care from a single source - from prevention and early detection to diagnosis, and on to treatment and aftercare. By optimising clinical workflows for the most common diseases, Siemens also makes healthcare faster, better and more cost-effective. Siemens Healthcare employs some 48,000 employees worldwide and operates around the world. In fiscal year 2010 (to September 30), the Sector posted revenue of 12.4 billion euros and profit of around 750 million euros. For further information please visit: http://www.siemens.co.uk/healthcare.