Services & activities

We are a leading UK charity for people with hearing loss, their family and friends.

We understand that hearing loss affects far more than a person’s ears. The consequences can impact on every part of their life; relationships, status at work, confidence and self-esteem. Through shared experiences, practical support and guidance from people who experience hearing loss themselves, we enable others living with hearing loss to reconnect and embrace life.

When people are becoming concerned about hearing loss, we help them find:

  • what to do and where to go
  • who can help in their local area
  • which national services are most relevant to their needs.

When people are really struggling to cope with hearing loss, we:

  • offer personalised and practical support to reduce isolation
  • put them in touch with appropriate local services and organisations, and support them where necessary while they approach these services
  • provide specialised services ourselves where these do not otherwise exist.

When people are managing long-standing hearing loss, we make it easy to:

  • connect to others with similar interests
  • form local groups and clubs
  • find out about relevant local and national public consultations and participate in these where relevant.

We support their relatives, friends and colleagues. We help them understand the wider impact of hearing loss and offer direct support for their own needs.

We work with all relevant organisations (local, regional and national) in the voluntary, commercial, and public sectors. We raise awareness of their services and roles among potential service users. Where requested, we assist organisations and public bodies to gather user feedback to enhance the quality of their services.

What is our remit?

We ensure that people living with hearing loss, their families and friends can find the information they need, the specialist services they require, and the social contact they want in order to live well with hearing loss. We believe in the power of peer support so our services are largely driven and delivered by people with personal experience of hearing loss.

How do we achieve our goals?

 Website

Our website is our main ‘public reach’ tool. Through it, visitors can access our support paths. The site provides extensive information directly, but also serves as a signpost to other services and organisations across all sectors. The site contents are researched and compiled largely through our volunteers across the country (co-ordinated by staff), so its content directly reflect the interests of those with hearing loss.

Helpdesk

We deliver a responsive Helpdesk which can be reached by phone, SMS, email, and letter. Our Helpdesk Responder Team have personal experience of hearing loss and they are ready to offer information, guidance and support to help people take their next step – whether they have hearing loss themselves or wish to support someone else.

Specialist support services

We provide specialised courses where these are not otherwise available. Examples include our intensive rehabilitation programme for recently deafened adults, and our LinkUp programmes for those with moderate hearing loss.

Volunteer network

We have network of trained volunteers who deliver a range of roles such as one-to-one personalised support, talks to groups, and information-gathering at local level. Our volunteers take an active part in our website as contributors, commentators, and reviewers, directing the development of the site.

Literature

We produce information leaflets, brochures, posters, and a feature magazine called Hearing Link Matters.

Social events

We organise regional and national events where people can meet others with similar interests in hearing loss. We publicise the events of other bodies, and we help deliver them when requested.

Social media

We provide information and support via three social media channels – Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. We encourage our followers to share relevant articles and information and participate in discussions. Subtitled videos about our work can be accessed via our YouTube channel.

Consultation

We raise awareness about local and national consultations where the views of people with hearing loss will be important. We support anyone wishing to participate in such consultations, working with them to ensure their access needs are met. We gather and collate the views of people with hearing loss, presenting them to the appropriate authorities and working collaboratively with other organisations where possible. Where necessary, we design and carry out our own consultations through our Community Panel and we ensure relevant bodies become aware of the outcomes.

Research

We commission and participate in research studies designed to enhance the quality of life of people with hearing loss, and help disseminate relevant research findings.

Please contact us for further information about our work.

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We value your feedback

If you have any suggestions as to how we can improve this page, please do let us know. Please note that we cannot respond directly to feedback left below, however if you have any questions for us, please email helpdesk@hearinglink.org or click the at the top of this page.