Australian cricket player Brett Lee has been announced as the first global hearing ambassador. As one of the world’s fastest bowlers, who has smashed multiple cricket records, Brett’s has set his target to raising awareness of the 360 million people worldwide suffering from hearing loss.
360 million is the estimated number of people worldwide who suffer from a disabling hearing loss. Unfortunately many of them are not aware of the effects it can have or what treatments are available to them. Brett’s role as Cochlear Ambassador is to participate in a campaign to raise awareness of the significant medical, social and economic impacts hearing loss can have on individuals and their families.
When Brett spoke in London prior to the start of The Ashes, he said, “Hearing loss is a huge global public health issue. I can’t imagine cricket without sound, off the field not hearing team mates, or at home not hearing family. I can’t imagine it. A cochlear implant can change all of that. I’ve seen it happen. The implant takes a person from silence to sound. It is a wonderful, life changing moment. And through the language of cricket, a game with three billion fans across the world, we can expose more people to implantable hearing technologies. We can help more people go from silence to sound.”
Brett explains that his association with Cochlear began when he was filming the soon to be released movie unIndian. “When we were filming at Cochlear’s headquarters in Sydney I got to know some of their recipients and even saw some of them ‘switched on’ for the first time, when they suddenly hear sound! I saw their sheer joy at being able to hear life. It really affected me. I’m honoured to be Cochlear’s first Global Hearing Ambassador.”
The CEO of Cochlear, Dr Chris Roberts, said “We are delighted to have one of the true greats of sport working with Cochlear. Sport is a universal language and cricket is one of the most communicated languages in the world.”
