Who We Are: 

Welcome to the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA), the country’s leading membership organization for people with hearing loss. HLAA’s mission is to open the world of communication to people with hearing loss through providing information, education, advocacy and support. Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, HLAA’s national network includes some 200 local chapters nationwide, and 14 state organizations.

 

HLAA-Whatcom is a community of people residing in Whatcom and surrounding counties as well as Canada who provide information and education on a wide variety of topics of concern to people with mild to profound hearing loss, and their friends and family, but who wish to function and thrive in the wider hearing world. We stress the use of hearing technologies, effective communication strategies, and self-advocacy. We work to disseminate information about legal and regulatory requirements that enable people with hearing loss to communicate in public places and in educational and employment settings.

 

We do these things by inviting knowledgeable speakers to address topics of concern, by reaching out to community groups and local government agencies that provide (or could provide) services to the hard of hearing community, and by acquainting the public about how best to accommodate the needs of the 15 to 20 percent of the U.S. population with some degree of hearing loss.