STAFF at a Huddersfield travel shop dressed in pyjamas, dressing gowns, nightcaps and slippers to provide a wake-up call to customers about hearing loss.
Employees at The Co-operative Travel in Cross Church Street will be joining thousands of colleagues across the UK to help launch a £2m fundraising campaign for RNID, the charity for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Staff across the Co-op’s whole business – including food stores, travel shops, funeral parlours, pharmacies, banking and insurance – are joining in the campaign.
The aim is to alert some of the 4m people in the UK who are losing their hearing, but do nothing about it. During the campaign, RNID aims to test the hearing of one million people and will call for everyone aged over 55 to be invited to have their hearing tested on the NHS.
Kerry-Ann Foster, branch manager at Cross Church Street, said: “Coming to work in our pyjamas got us some strange looks from customers, but if we can raise money for this worthwhile cause and give people a wake-up call about their hearing it will be a dream come true!”
RNID provides services for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Service include help lines, websites, publications, products and communication aids.
The charity already runs a confidential telephone-based hearing check service on 0844 8003838 and is also launching a free online version at www.mid.org.uk/hearingmatters.
A spokesman said: “Many people wait up to 15 years to seek advice following the onset of hearing loss, but it is better to get help sooner as it can become more difficult to adapt to using a hearing aid once you are used to a quieter world.”
Deafness affects one in seven of the UK population, while 2.4m deaf and hard of hearing people are under 60 years of age.
Some 700,000 are profoundly deaf. RNID said deaf people were four times more likely than other people to be unemployed – while only 1.4m of the 2m people with hearing aids use them regularly.
