Sight & Hearing Association

The Sight & Hearing Association is committed to enabling lifetime learning by identifying preventable vision and hearing loss. During the past 70 years, we have screened more than 1.5 million children in Minnesota and each year we provide vision and hearing screening to over 10,000 preschool and school-age children at Head Start, daycare, preschool centers, charter and public schools in Minnesota. Of the children we screen, 25 percent of preschoolers will have a vision and or hearing issue that requires further medical attention and 30 percent of school-age children will need vision care follow-up. We also provide outreach to thousands of adults who are screened each year for the early warning signs of glaucoma. Adult vision and hearing screening as well as education is conducted at community, senior centers and corporate health events throughout the state. In the spring, SHA sponsors International Noise Awareness Day, coordinating hearing screening for hundreds of adults in partnership with volunteer audiologists throughout Minnesota. And each holiday season, with the assistance of researchers from the University of Minnesota, the Sight & Hearing Association tests dozens of toys for their sound levels. A Noisy Toys List is created from this research and distributed to the media and public to warn them about toys that have the potential to harm a child’s hearing. Information is also distributed on topics related to early childhood and adult vision and hearing health issues. These include middle-ear infections, amblyopia, noise-induced hearing loss, glaucoma, macular degeneration, tinnitus and specific health issues related to women’s eye health and computer eye strain. SHA also provides financial assistance to low-income children in need of vision care through our Vision Voucher Project for Kids, where free eye exams and eyewear are provided by local vision professionals to children screened and identified by our health staff as needing further follow-up care. As a companion to our voucher project, a hearing aid assistance program is being developed, which will provide free hearing aids to children and adults in need.