As part of Deaf Awareness Week 2006 (1-7 May), RNID, the national charity representing the 9 million deaf and hard of hearing people in the UK, presents a spectacular Son et Lumière on the evening of May 2 at 8.45pm, outside Senate House in conjunction with the central University of London.
The event is being staged in a bid to persuade Londoners to take part in Britain’s Biggest Sound Check on Wednesday 3rd May 2006. RNID is challenging people everywhere to call RNID’s special telephone hearing check on 0845 600 5555 to help set the record for the largest number of people to check their hearing on any one-day. The target is 100,000. The University is the first academic institution to support Britain’s Biggest Sound Check.
Susan Osborne, Director of RNID’s Breaking the Sound Barrier Campaign, says: “Hearing loss can have a profound impact on our lives, leaving many people feeling isolated and out of touch with their friends and family. The idea behind Britain’s Biggest Sound Check is to encourage people to take an interest in their health and call 0845 600 5555 for a valid hearing check. Who better to help us achieve our target than the staff and students at the Central University of London.
“The light and sound show will evoke sounds and images of the 60s. For those of you old enough to remember these, perhaps you are beginning to worry about your hearing. Over 40% of the over 50s experience some level of hearing loss, so if you think you or anyone you know might have some hearing loss, why not take the five-minute check? Taking this first step could improve your life.”
Binda Rai, Head of Communications at the University of London, says: “We are delighted to be hosting this event, to help RNID raise awareness of Britain’s Biggest Sound Check. We hope this event encourages Londoners, including students to be more proactive in checking their hearing and take the telephone hearing check.”
Britain’s Biggest Sound Check is part of RNID’s Breaking the Sound Barrier Campaign, a bold campaign which aims to change attitudes towards hearing loss and hearing aids. The campaign aims to reach out to the 4 million people in the UK who are losing their hearing but doing nothing about it.
For further information on Breaking the Sound Barrier visit www.breakingthesoundbarrier.org.uk 
and for further information on deafness and hearing loss please contact RNID’s information line on telephone 0808 808 0123, textphone 0808 808 9000 or visit www.rnid.org.uk 
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For more information, please contact Anna Hollis, Senior Media Relations Officer, RNID on 0207 296 8229/8137 or email Anna.Hollis@rnid.org.uk 
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1. Medical Research Council (MRC) Institute of Hearing Research.
2. RNID is the national charity changing the world for the 9 million deaf and hard of hearing people in the UK. As a membership charity, they aim to achieve a radically better quality of life for deaf and hard of hearing people. They do this in the following ways:
• Campaigning and lobbying to change laws and government policies.
• Challenging negative perceptions around deafness and hearing loss.
• Providing information and raising awareness of deafness, hearing loss and tinnitus.
• Training courses and consultancy on deafness and disability.
• Communication services including sign language interpreters.
• Training of interpreters, lipspeakers and speech-to-text operators.
• Seeking lasting change in education for deaf children and young people.
• Employment programmes to help deaf people into work.
• Care services for deaf and hard of hearing people with additional needs.
• Typetalk, the national telephone relay service for deaf and hard of hearing people.
• Equipment and products for deaf and hard of hearing people.
• Social, medical and technical research.
• For more information about RNID, visit: www.rnid.org.uk 
or contact RNID's Information Line on telephone 0808 808 0123 or textphone 0808 808 9000 or email: information@rnid.org.uk 
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