ASHA, Califone® To Collaborate On Association’s BHSM Campaign

San Fernando, CA (February 14, 2008) — Califone International announced today that it has agreed to become a corporate sponsor of the ASHA’s May is Better Hearing and Speech Month (BHSM) campaign. Since 1927, ASHA’s annual May event has provided the Association and its members with a public education platform to raise awareness about communication disorders and promote treatment that can improve the quality of life for those who experience problems with speaking, understanding, or hearing.

Under the agreement, the campaign will receive financial and in-kind support from Califone to further develop and promote ASHA’s BHSM efforts. With the campaign theme “Helping People Communicate”, some of the items that Califone will be sponsoring include a BHSM campaign-related product, children’s activity book, and poster promoting BHSM that will be provided to every ASHA member via the ASHA Leader. Califone will also be a sponsor of several ASHA Leader advertisements and campaign web site materials. Califone will also be promoting the sponsorship via its website and other promotional materials.

“Califone is excited about sponsoring BHSM and plans to be active in using Better Hearing and Speech Month to help educators inform administrators, students, parents, and other school personnel about communication disorders and how to receive help,” said Roscoe Anthony, President of Califone. “We believe that sponsoring BHSM will be an effective way to reach a large and influential segment of the school system’s decision makers to ensure that a student’s communication disorder does not negatively impact their academic performance. We have been extremely pleased with our relationship with ASHA since we began working with them on the development of the Califone MP3 player. Sponsorship of BHSM is an important next step.”

“We are very pleased that Califone will be helping us promote BHSM and our message,” ASHA President Catherine Gottfred observes. “Our joining forces is an especially good fit. Tens of thousands of ASHA members who are speech-language pathologists and audiologists work in schools nationwide. Meantime, Califone has a very strong and long-standing reputation as the leading audio manufacturer within school systems around the country.”