Starts Hear Awareness Campaign

It All Starts With Hearing

It wasn’t so long ago that the newborn hearing screening (NHS) wasn't as widely available as it is now. Today, 98 percent of babies in the U.S. receive a newborn hearing screening, but most parents don’t have it on their radar. It’s common for there to be delays in follow-up after a failed screening. Those delays mean babies with hearing loss are not getting the support they need during those critical early developmental stages.

The sooner a baby with hearing loss is given access to sound and a rich language environment, the better their chances for developing grade-level literacy and reaching their full potential.

When parents know what’s at stake, they act urgently. One of Hearing First’s goals is to help all children have the opportunity to take advantage of access to sound. With that in mind, we’ve launched an initiative to raise awareness among expectant moms about newborn hearing health and early brain development. The campaign, Starts Hear, educates soon-to-be parents in the U.S. about the NHS so they’re prepared with next steps should their newborn fail.

The campaign target audience includes:

• Expectant mothers
• 18-39 years of age
• HHI <$75K
• Less than high school graduate through 4-year college graduate
• Caucasian, African-American, Hispanic, and Asian

Campaign videos, which average 15 seconds, have been watched 125.2 million times on YouTube as of December 31, 2023.

Newborn Hearing Loss is a Developmental Emergency

Along with the other senses, hearing builds the neural pathways that stimulate brain development for babies.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) considers infant hearing loss to be a
“developmental emergency” and recommends that all babies receive newborn hearing screening (NHS).

Hearing loss is among the most common developmental anomalies with 1 to 3 of every 1,000 babies born with some degree of hearing loss.

Infants identified with hearing loss should have appropriate intervention as soon as possible to develop the critical early learning skills that lead to successful language and literacy outcomes.

We’re not alone in spreading this critical message to expectant parents. Several organizations have joined together to expand the reach of the campaign, including the American Academy of Audiology (AAA), BabyCenter, Brazelton Touchpoints Center, Bright by Text, Reach Out and Read, Thirty Million Words, What to Expect, and Zero to Three.

Campaign Reach

The campaign’s comprehensive paid media plan includes:

• Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest
• What To Expect, BabyCenter, including a Spanish campaign, and The Bump
• Google PPC & Display
• YouTube pre-roll, Connected TV, and Pandora
• Social retargeting
• Native advertising

In partnership with BabyCenter, What To Expect, and The Bump, we’ve worked together to create and share targeted advertising based on a mom’s stage of pregnancy, as well as key targeted messages post birth with both paid placements, sponsored and editorial content.

• An influencer article
• An interactive brand experience
• An expert Q&A video and article

Campaign Creative

Bright and optimistic in design, the campaign taps into parents’ hopes for their child’s future. The artwork connects a parent’s dreams for their baby with the importance of newborn hearing. Fresh colors, new photos, and different dreams were introduced in the second year of the campaign to keep the campaign engaging and extend its reach among expectant and new moms.

The creative concepts include a mix of themes from astronaut, punk rock, happy dance, hearing is important, fairy tale, graduate, and discovery to reflect parents’ unique dreams for their child.

Campaign Performance

Since its launch in February 2021 through the end of December 2023, the campaign has generated:

• 639.7 million impressions
• 125.2 million video views
• 3.8 million emails sent to expectant parents

Learn more by visiting the campaign's website StartsHear.org.