Bloomington, Minn. — Jan. 29, 2021 – GN Hearing, the global leader in hearing aid innovation, today announced the creation of a scholarship fund to be awarded to Black students pursuing a career in audiology and hearing sciences, with a focus on students attending a Historically Black College or University (HBCU).

To kickstart the fund, GN Hearing will donate $5 for every ReSound ONE, Beltone Imagine and Audigy AGX hearing aid sold in February, Black History Month.

GN Hearing has long supported audiology scholarships. The launch of this scholarship fund is the first community educational initiative championed by Black@GN, a newly formed employee resource group. The goal of this new fund is to help increase the number of Black audiologists within the field. According to an American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) report, roughly 3 percent of the nation’s audiologists and speech, language and hearing scientists are Black or African American, while more than 13 percent of the U.S. population identifies as Black or African American according to 2019 U.S. Census data.

“Great hearing care begins with outstanding hearing care providers,” says Scott Davis, President of GN Hearing North America. “Clearly, there is a need for more Black audiologists. By supporting this employee-led effort, we hope to improve diversity within the profession, which in turn, we hope will help improve overall access to all people who could benefit from hearing care.”

Scholarship and application details will be available once the fund is fully established.