Legal

TERMS OF USE

IMPORTANT: Please review the following terms and conditions carefully. These Terms of Use are a legally binding agreement between you and Hearing First, LLC (“Hearing First” or “we” or “us” or “our”) pertaining to the access and use of the content, information, audio and visual media, printed materials, products, and online or other electronic documentation, resources and services accessible from www.hearingfirst.org, www.startshear.org, any sub-domains thereof and other websites operated by or for Hearing First (collectively, the “Site”). Please read these Terms carefully, as your use of the Site and any content or services accessible therefrom and described below constitutes your acceptance of these Terms. If you do not agree to be bound by these Terms do not access, use or continue to use the Site, the content or the services.

Hearing First Offerings

On the Site and through the services described below, Hearing First makes available a large body of materials and resources including without limitation, research materials, photographs, text, graphics, logos, icons, images, content, sound recordings, tutorials, learning experiences, downloadable handouts, blogs, white papers, audio/visual clips and design, including the selection and arrangement of all such items (collectively, “Content”).

Hearing First may offer from time to time certain services or features on the Site, including without limitation, message boards, blogs, chatrooms, forums, personal home pages, community spaces, learning experiences, news groups, bulletin board services, personalized and/or automated email and text messaging reminders and one-on-one chat features (collectively, “Services”).

As part of the Services and in furtherance of its mission, Hearing First has also developed an online community (“Hearing First Community”). You may voluntarily join the Hearing First Community to access and use Services specific to the Hearing First Community (“Community Services”). The Community Services are intended to foster deeper communication and community dialogue related to Hearing First’s mission. To access the Community Services, you will be required to indicate your acceptance of these Terms during the registration process.

Hearing First makes the Site, Content, Services and Community Services (collectively, “Offerings”) available to the public in furtherance of its mission. You may voluntarily choose to access, use or participate in any of the Offerings. The Offerings are available to you free of charge on the express condition that you accept, without modification, and abide by these Terms. Your access and use of any or all of the Offerings is conditioned upon your continued compliance with these Terms. If you do not agree to be bound by these Terms and all applicable laws, you are required to register an account and to discontinue use of the Offerings.

Changes to Terms

You are encouraged to check this page periodically for any changes that we make to these Terms of Use. Hearing First reserves the right to change the Terms any time by reasonable notice, including without limitation by posting revised terms on the Site (which shall constitute reasonable notice), and such amended Terms shall be binding upon you upon posting; thus, you should consult the most recent version of these Terms each time that you access any of the Hearing First Offerings.

Permitted Users and Children’s Privacy

These Terms govern each visitor’s access to and voluntary use of the Offerings. Hearing First is concerned about the safety of children and their use of the Internet and Hearing First does not knowingly solicit personal information from children or knowingly market to children. In accordance with the U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, the Offerings are not intended for use by persons under the age of thirteen (13). Users age thirteen (13) through eighteen (18) may only access and use the Offerings with the permission of a parent or guardian. Any use of or access to the Offerings by anyone under the age of thirteen (13) or by anyone age thirteen (13) through eighteen (18) without the permission of a parent or guardian is not authorized and is a violation of these Terms.

By using or accessing the Offerings, you represent and warrant that you are at least eighteen (18) years of age. If you are between the ages of thirteen (13) and eighteen (18), your parent or guardian must give their permission and you must agree to abide by all of the provisions of these Terms. In the event that Hearing First receives actual knowledge that it has collected personal information from a child without the requisite and verifiable parental consent, Hearing First will make reasonable efforts to delete that information as quickly as is reasonably practical.

Use of the Offerings is void where prohibited.

Availability of Hearing First Offerings

Hearing First reserves the right to establish general practices and limits concerning the Hearing First Offerings and may modify such practices and limits at any time and in its sole discretion. Such practices may include, but are not limited to, restricting the length, subject matter and types of comments and information that may be posted and establishing terms and membership criteria for participating in the Services and in the Hearing First Community.

The Offerings are intended to raise awareness, provide resources, information and educational tools and foster communication and community dialogue related to Hearing First’s mission. In accessing the Offerings, you may not post, transmit, or share any materials that (i) violate or infringe upon the rights of any third party, including copyright, patent, trademark, privacy, publicity or other personal or proprietary rights; (ii) contain libelous, defamatory or otherwise unlawful material; (iii) harass, abuse or harm (or attempt to harass, abuse or harm) or intimidate, embarrass or demean any person or entity; (iv) Hearing First deems unlawful, infringing, trade libelous, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, invasive of privacy, stalking, defamatory, vulgar, sexually explicit, hateful, discriminatory or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable; (v) Hearing First in its sole discretion deems objectionable or may prevent any other person from enjoying full use of the Offerings (to the extent that the user would otherwise be permitted), or which could expose or result in liability for Hearing First, its affiliate organization(s) (“Affiliates), partners or any user; (vi) attack, ridicule, denounce, impugn a person’s character, or impute immoral or dishonorable attributes to a person on the basis of race or ethnicity, gender, age, religion, national origin, disability or sexual orientation; or (vii) violate any applicable law, statute, ordinance or regulation, aid in or encourage the commission of a crime or illegal activity, or otherwise create liability.

In addition, in accessing the Offerings you agree not to:

forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any information transmitted through the Offerings;
make available in any way, any personal information about any person or entity other than yourself;
collect, store or use personal data about other users or otherwise mine information about other users or the Offerings;
send chain emails;
post information directed to or collect personal information from any minor;
damage or disable any Offerings or take any other action that causes any negative impact on the operation of the Site, the Content, the Services or the Community Services or any computer systems, including posting or making available in any way any content or materials that contains viruses or that is designed to negatively impact the use of such systems (including without limitation, knowingly distributing viruses, Trojan horses, worms, or other similar harmful or deleterious programming routines);
interfere with or disrupt any services or equipment with the intent of causing an excessive or disproportionate load on Hearing First’s, its Affiliates’, licensors’, vendors’ or subcontractors’ infrastructure; or
decompile, decode, unlock, attempt to discover the source code of, or otherwise reverse engineer, any of Hearing First’s, its Affiliates’, licensors’, vendors’ or subcontractors’ software or infrastructure.

Hearing First retains the right to deny access to the Offerings to anyone who violates these Terms.

Content and Restrictions on Use of Materials

Unless otherwise indicated, Hearing First, its Affiliates or their respective licensors hold the copyright to all Offerings and the Offerings are protected by copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret and other applicable laws. See the section herein entitled “Participation in the Hearing First Community” for more information about intellectual property rights for content submitted to the Hearing First Community by a user.

Additionally, Hearing First or its Affiliates own all of the trademarks, service marks, slogans and logos (collectively, the “Marks”) used and displayed on the Offerings unless otherwise noted. Without the explicit consent of Hearing First, no Offerings or Marks may be copied, reproduced, displayed, republished, downloaded, posted, digitized, translated, modified, transmitted, distributed or commercially exploited in any way. Any unauthorized use of the Offerings or Marks may violate copyright, trademark and other laws. We retain all rights not expressly granted, and nothing in these Terms constitutes a waiver of any rights under copyright laws or any other federal, state, local or international law, regulation, ordinance or treaty. Nothing in these Terms should be construed as conferring by implication, estoppel or otherwise, any license or right under or to any intellectual property right, including without limitation, any patent, trademark, service mark or copyright of Hearing First, its Affiliates or any third party.

Hearing First will allow you to view, print, download and share Content for your own personal use or for an educational use including without limitation, the education of individuals, groups or the general public, provided that (i) the Content used must retain any copyright, intellectual property, proprietary or other notices or disclaimers contained in the original materials, (ii) you must give attribution to Hearing First and if possible provide a reference to Hearing First’s website where the Content is available (www.hearingfirst.org, www.startshear.org, or any subdomain thereof), and (iii) the Content used must be used in its entirety without modification, reformatting, adaptation or adjustment. Content may not be used for any for-profit or commercial activities or purposes of resale. You acknowledge that you do not acquire any ownership rights by accessing or downloading copyrighted or trademarked Content.

If you intend to use any Content for purposes other than personal or educational use as described herein, you agree to obtain all necessary permissions and rights associated with the use of the Content, including our written approval. If you intend to adapt our Content, including without limitation, adding to, deleting from, modifying or combining with other materials, for any purpose including creating a derivative work or publishing a work, you must obtain our prior written approval and can contact us as provided below.

If you share the Content with others, you agree to advise any person with whom you share the Content as to these Terms and they must agree to abide by these Terms. Failure to abide by these conditions will immediately terminate this permission and may result in the infringement of the copyrights and/or trademarks owned by Hearing First or its licensors.

Access to and Participation in the Hearing First Content and Services

You may voluntarily choose to participate in certain Services offered by Hearing First, including without limitation, commenting on public blogs, requesting email or text messaging reminders, engaging in one-on-one chat sessions or participating in learning experiences. In accessing the Services, you are responsible for any content you post or provide, including any personal information you choose to transmit or otherwise share through the Services. We do not share your personal information without your permission. See our Privacy Policy for more information.

You may only share content that you own or that you have permission from the owner to share. By way of example and not limitation, if you post a photograph of yourself with others, you must obtain a permission or a release from the other individual(s) appearing in the photograph to use their image and you must own or have a license to the copyright in the photograph. By sharing or posting content, you warrant or represent that you own or control all of the rights to such content, or otherwise have permission from the rights owner to use or share such content.

Hearing First may, but has no obligation to, review the Services and remove content, at any time, in its sole discretion, without notice for any or no reason, including the removal of content that in Hearing First’s opinion violates these Terms or any other terms we have established with respect to the Hearing First Offerings. Hearing First is not responsible for any content that is removed or deleted.

You agree that Hearing First may, and you authorize Hearing First to, make and retain copies of any content that you post as may be necessary, in Hearing First’s sole discretion, for the operation and maintenance of the Services. When you post any content as part of your participation in the Services, you automatically grant to Hearing First an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (i) use, copy, perform, display, reformat, post and distribute your content for any purpose in connection with Hearing First’s Offerings and (ii) prepare derivative works of the content or incorporate it into other works. In those cases, Hearing First shall be entitled to unrestricted use and dissemination for any purpose without acknowledgement or compensation to you. You also permit any other users of the Services to access, view, store or reproduce your content for such other visitor’s personal use.

You represent and warrant that you have the right to grant the foregoing license and that your content does not violate any rights, including intellectual property rights, of any person or entity. You are responsible for any royalties, fees or other costs due as the result of any content you post or share through the Services.

You may remove your content at any time and/or request Hearing First to remove your content, recognizing, however, that some information, messages, posts or other content, depending on the type and how posted, may not be entirely removable. The license granted to Hearing First above will continue after any removal of your content. Hearing First is permitted to retain archived copies of any content that is removed. After removal, your content may still be viewable (e.g., in archived or cached pages or in copies that were printed or saved by other users of the Services).

In accessing certain Content or Services, you may be asked to provide your name, email address and/or a telephone number to receive texts. You agree to provide correct information about yourself as may be required or prompted by any forms related to the Content or Services. You further agree to timely update any information you provide to Hearing First so that it continues to be correct for so long as you desire to access the Content or participate in the Services. While we may share your name in connection with delivery of the Content or Services, we will not make your email address, telephone number or other personal information you share with us public. See our Privacy Policy for more information. It is your responsibility to carefully consider what, if any, additional personal information and content you choose to make available as part of your access to the Content or participation in the Services.

You agree not to use any other person’s information to access any Content or Services without their express consent.

Participation in the Hearing First Community

You may join the Hearing First Community and access the Community Services by submitting a registration form and expressly agreeing to these Terms, which include the following provisions specific to the Hearing First Community.

Hearing First Community Membership

If you voluntarily choose to join the Hearing First Community, you will be required to register as a member of the Hearing First Community (“Member”) and to create an account (“Account”). Membership in the Hearing First Community is open to the public and provided free of charge and it allows users to gain access to and to participate in the Community Services. Generally speaking, members of the Hearing First Community may participate in and use the Community Services so long as their membership is helping Hearing First to fulfill its mission. By joining the Hearing First Community, you are agreeing to abide not only by these Terms but also by the Code of Conduct established by Hearing First for the operation of the Community.

Hearing First Community Member Content

Notwithstanding the provisions herein related to “Content and Restrictions on Use of Materials”, as between Hearing First and any Member, content owned by a Member and posted by the Member to the Site as part of the Community Services (“Member Content”), other than Editorial Comments (defined below) remains the property of the Member. As a Member, you retain intellectual property rights associated with your Member Content, if any. Some Member Content may be personal to you or contain personally identifiable information that you shared with Hearing First either voluntarily or for purposes of accessing the Community Services (“Personal Member Content.”)

You are responsible for your Member Content, including Personal Member Content contained in your Member profile (“Profile”) or Account, and other information that you post through the Community Services or that you choose to transmit or otherwise share with other Members or the public through the Hearing First Offerings. We do not share your Personal Member Content without your permission. See our Privacy Policy for more information.

You may only post Member Content that you own or that you have permission from the owner to post. By way of example and not limitation, if you post a photograph of yourself with others, you must obtain a permission or a release from the other individual(s) appearing in the photograph to use their image and you must own or have a license to the copyright in the photograph. By posting Member Content, you warrant or represent that you own or control all of the rights to such Member Content, or otherwise have permission from the owner to post such content.

Hearing First may, but has no obligation to, review the Community Services and remove Content or Member Content, at any time, in its sole discretion, without notice for any or no reason, including the removal of Member Content that in Hearing First’s opinion violates these Terms, our Code of Conduct or any other terms we have established with respect to the Hearing First Community. Hearing First is not responsible for any Member Content that is removed or deleted and it is your responsibility to retain your own copies of any Member Content or information that you provide to Hearing First or otherwise post on the Site.

You agree that Hearing First may, and you authorize Hearing First to, make and retain copies of any Member Content, including Personal Member Content, that you post or otherwise provide as may be necessary, in Hearing First’s sole discretion, for the operation and maintenance of the Community Services. When you post any other Member Content through the Community Services, you automatically grant to Hearing First an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (i) use, copy, perform, display, reformat, post and distribute your Member Content for any purpose in connection with the Community Services or any Hearing First activities and (ii) prepare derivative works of the Member Content or incorporate it into other works. In those cases, Hearing First shall be entitled to unrestricted use and dissemination for any purpose without acknowledgement or compensation to you. You also permit any other Members to access, view, store or reproduce your Member Content for such other Member’s personal use.

You represent and warrant that you have the right to grant the foregoing license and that your Member Content does not violate any rights, including intellectual property rights, of any person or entity. You are responsible for any royalties, fees or other costs due as the result of any Member Content you post to the Community Services.

You may remove your Member Content from the Hearing First Community at any time and/or request that your Account be closed, however, some information, messages, posts or other Member Content, depending on the type and how posted, may not be entirely removable. The license granted to Hearing First above will continue after any removal of your Member Content from the Hearing First Community. Hearing First is permitted to retain archived copies of any Member Content that is removed. After removal, your Member Content may still be viewable (e.g., in archived or cached pages or in copies that were printed or saved by other Members).

Hearing First Community Member Accounts, Provision of Data and Account Security

You agree to provide correct information about yourself as may be required or prompted by any forms in the Community Services, including your Profile and any forms or information requests in connection with the creation of your Account (“Account Data”). You further agree to timely update any Account Data or other information you provide to Hearing First so that it continues to be correct. You are required to keep your username and password secure and you agree not to disclose your password to or share it with any third party. You agree to notify Hearing First immediately if you suspect or become aware of any unauthorized use of your Account or disclosure of your password. You are responsible for any use of your Account and for any charges, damages, losses or activities that take place using your Account, whether authorized or unauthorized. Hearing First is not liable for any harm related to the theft of your Account Data.

You agree not to create more than one Account for yourself or to create an Account for anyone other than yourself. You agree not to use any other person’s Account, username or password or to access or attempt to access another user’s Account, without the written consent of Hearing First. You are responsible for the acts or omissions by third parties who are under your control for their use of the Community Services and for any damages incurred by you as a result thereof.

Hearing First does not pre-screen or approve Profiles or Accounts and cannot guarantee that an Account was actually created and is being operated by the individual that is the subject of the Profile. Hearing First may, but is under no obligation to, monitor a Member’s use of the Member’s Account and is not responsible for any Member Content or any use of the Community Services by Members, including any activity between Members (such as any disputes) and how any Member collects, handles, uses and/or shares any information, Member Content or Editorial Comments (defined below) that may be accessible to the Member through the Member’s use of the Community Services. It is your responsibility to carefully consider what information, Member Content and Personal Member Content you make available to other Members or to the public through your use of the Community Services and the Site and your interaction with other Members.

Hearing First Community General Conduct

The Community Services may only be used by you for personal, educational, non-commercial use and in connection with your participation in the Hearing First Community. The Community Services are intended to foster communication and networking in furtherance of Hearing First’s mission and you are expected to use the Community Services in a manner that is reflective of the values of Hearing First and in keeping with these Terms and our Code of Conduct. In addition to the other restrictions contained in these Terms, you may not post or otherwise use the Community Services to:

advertise commercial services that you or any third party providers;
engage in any activities that may be construed as violating anti-trust law or regulation;
sell or transfer your Account or Profile;
provide any false or misleading information about yourself or any other person or impersonate any person or entity including without limitation, one of Hearing First’s, its Affiliates’ or other’s officers or employees, or falsely stating or otherwise misrepresenting your affiliation with a person or entity;
compile e-mail addresses or other contact information of other Members for the purpose of sending unsolicited emails or other unsolicited communications that are not in accordance with the permitted uses of the Community Services.

Hearing First Editorial Comments

You acknowledge and agree that any questions, comments, suggestions, ideas, feedback or other information about the general operation and functionality of the Hearing First Offerings provided by you to Hearing First through service requests (“Editorial Comments”), are non-confidential and shall become the sole property of Hearing First. Hearing First shall own the exclusive rights to the Editorial Comments including all intellectual property rights; and Hearing First shall be entitled to the unrestricted use and dissemination of these Editorial Comments for any purpose without acknowledgment or compensation to you. Any reasonable request you make to republish your Editorial Comments will be granted.

Disclaimer

You acknowledge that the Offerings are provided “as is” for general information only and without warranties of any kind. The Hearing First Offerings are not meant to be used to replace the services of qualified professionals including without limitation, medical or educational professionals. While Hearing First endeavors to keep the Offerings current, information related to healthcare, education and other fields may change rapidly and the Offerings should not be relied upon to be fully comprehensive or error-free. Hearing First does not recommend, endorse or make any warranties or representations of any kind with regard to the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, quality, efficacy or non-infringement of any of the Offerings or by the companies or organizations linked or referred to in the Offerings. The Offerings do not provide medical or educational advice or recommendations to individuals and you should not rely on the Offerings as a substitute for consultations with qualified professionals who are familiar with your or a family member’s questions or needs. Hearing First encourages you to seek the guidance of qualified professionals for specific information and services.

Hearing First does not endorse or otherwise verify the accuracy, truthfulness or reliability of any information provided in the Offerings unless it is provided by an authorized and designated Hearing First spokesperson. The Offerings are managed, hosted and maintained by a variety of employees and consultants of Hearing First. Such employees and consultants are generally not authorized Hearing First spokespersons, unless specifically designated as such, and their views or actions in managing, hosting and maintaining the Offerings do not necessarily reflect those of Hearing First.

In certain instances, particularly in the Hearing First Community, Hearing First permits third parties and Members to share their personal and/or professional stories, to facilitate learning experiences or to provide testimonials, photographs, videos, resources and other information. Hearing First may from time to time post articles and other information provided by third parties and Members that might be of interest or benefit to the public. You acknowledge that the opinions and recommendations of third parties and Members contained in the Offerings are not those of Hearing First or endorsed by Hearing First. Hearing First does not recommend, endorse or make any warranties or representations of any kind with regard to the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, quality, efficacy or non-infringement of any of the content contributed by third parties or Members and you rely on such content solely at your own risk.

There is no warranty, representation or guarantee that the Offerings will continuously operate or be error free or that any problems will be corrected, or that any information, software or other material accessible from the Offerings is free of viruses, worms, Trojan horses or other harmful components. Further, we do not warrant, guarantee, or make any representations regarding the use of, or the results of the use of the Offerings either in terms of their compatibility with hardware or other software, their reliability, timeliness, or otherwise; and you rely on the Offerings solely at your own risk.

Any and all other representations and warranties including but not limited to any implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness of the product for a particular use or purpose, quality, course of dealings, usage of trade, inaccuracy in content caused by our failure to perform with reasonable care, quiet enjoyment or non-infringement are hereby expressly disclaimed.

Hearing First makes no representation that it operates (or is legally permitted to operate) in all geographic areas. Hearing First makes no representation that the Offerings are appropriate or available for use in all geographic locations and accessing the Offerings from territories where the content or the services of the site is illegal is expressly prohibited. If you access the Offerings from any country other than the United States of America, you acknowledge that you are doing so on your own initiative and you are solely responsible for compliance with all applicable laws.

Disclaimer Regarding Translated Content

In addition to the general disclaimer provided under these Terms, Hearing First does not warrant the accuracy, reliability, or timeliness of any Offerings in languages other than English (“Translated Content”). Any person or entity that relies on information obtained from Translated Content does so at his or her own risk. Hearing First is not responsible for any damage or issues that may possibly result from using the Translated Content. If any questions arise concerning the accuracy of the information presented in the Translated Content, please refer to the official English version of the website.

Links

Hearing First may provide links to other Internet sites or resources. Hearing First likewise may permit others to post on certain public forums links to other Internet sites or resources. The information provided to you in such links is provided solely for your interactive education and enjoyment. The results are not guaranteed to be accurate and are in no way endorsed, offered or guaranteed by Hearing First.

Links to the Site are permitted by Hearing First. You should be aware that links to the Site may be provided from other sites, either known or unknown to Hearing First, and some links to the Site may be unauthorized, and accessing any other site linked to or from the Site is done at your own risk. Hearing First has not reviewed and is not responsible for the content of any third-party sites linked to or from the Site.

If you choose to click on the links to any third party websites or otherwise engage in any correspondence or business dealings with or other purchase of products or services from any third parties, you do so on your own initiative and you agree that Hearing First is not responsible or liable for any loss or damages of any sort incurred as a result of any such dealings or as a result of the acknowledgement of or links to such third parties in conjunction with the Site. In addition, upon clicking on a link to any third-party website, you will be subject to the terms, conditions and policies of that third party site. We encourage you to read all applicable terms and conditions agreements and policies before using any third-party site.

General Indemnification

You agree that you will hold harmless Hearing First, its Affiliates, and their respective officers, directors, employees, volunteers, licensors and suppliers from all claims arising out of or related to your access or use of, or your inability to access or use, the Hearing First Offerings and other sites to which the Offerings link. If your use of the Offerings results in the need for servicing, repair of equipment or loss of data, you will assume any costs thereof. Your indemnification of Hearing First includes, without limitation, any claim of libel, defamation, violation of rights of privacy or publicity, loss of service by other Members and the infringement of intellectual property rights or other rights.

Limitation of Liability

IN NO EVENT AND UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL HEARING FIRST, ITS AFFILIATES, THE CONTRIBUTORS OF INFORMATION TO THE OFFERINGS OR OUR LICENSORS OR AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVES BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTY FOR SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, LOST SAVINGS, OR LOSS OF DATA) ARISING OUT OF YOUR OR ANY UNRELATED PARTY’S USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE OFFERINGS OR YOUR OR ANY UNRELATED PARTY’S RELIANCE ON OR USE OF INFORMATION, PRODUCTS OR SERVICES PROVIDED ON OR THROUGH THE INTERNET, OR THAT RESULT FROM MISTAKES, OMISSIONS, INTERRUPTIONS, DELETIONS OF FILES OR OTHER DATA LOSS, ERRORS, DEFECTS, DELAYS IN OPERATION, SERVICE OR TRANSMISSION OR ANY FAILURE OF PERFORMANCE OF THE OFFERINGS , EVEN IF WE, OR ANY OF OUR AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVES, HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE AND EVEN IF THE REMEDIES STATED IN THESE TERMS FAIL OF THEIR ESSENTIAL PURPOSE.

NOTWITHSTANDING ANYTHING TO THE CONTRARY CONTAINED HEREIN, HEARING FIRST’S OR ITS AFFILIATES’ LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ANY CAUSE WHATSOEVER RELATED TO THE OFFERINGS SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE AMOUNT PAID BY YOU TO HEARING FIRST OR ITS AFFILIATES, AS THE CASE MAY BE. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT IF NO FEES ARE PAID TO HEARING FIRST OR ITS AFFILIATES, YOU SHALL BE LIMITED TO INJUNCTIVE RELIEF ONLY. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, HOWEVER, SHALL HEARING FIRST’S OR ITS AFFILIATES’ LIABILITY TO YOU EXCEED $50.

Term & Termination

These Terms are effective from the date that you first access the Offerings and continue in effect until terminated in accordance with these Terms.

Hearing First may terminate your access to the Offerings or may deactivate your Account at any time in its sole discretion, without notice, for any or no reason. In the case of the Community Services, such termination or deactivation may include revoking your access to the Community Services, removing your Profile from the Community Services so that it is no longer viewable by you or any other Member and removing your Member Content.

Cause for such termination shall include, without limitation: (i) breaches or violations of these Terms, including our Code of Conduct; (ii) requests by law enforcement or other government agencies; (iii) discontinuance of or material modification to the Offerings, including the Site, the Content, the Services, the Community Services or any part thereof; (iv) unexpected technical or security issues or problems; (v) fraudulent or illegal activities performed by or on behalf of you in connection with the Offerings; (vi) a request by you to terminate your access or a statement by you that you no longer agree to these Terms or our Code of Conduct; (vii) extended periods of inactivity or non-participation in the Community Services; and/or (viii) any other reason reasonably considered by Hearing First to be in its best interest.

You agree that any termination of your access to the Offerings (including your Profile, Account or Member Content in the Community Services) may be effected without prior notice and you acknowledge and agree that Hearing First may immediately deactivate or delete your Profile, Account or Member Content or bar any access to such information or content by you or others. Hearing First shall not be obligated to return or provide copies of any information, files or content contained in your Profile, Account, Member Content or Editorial Comments. You further agree that Hearing First shall not be liable to any third-party for any termination of your access to the Offerings (including your Profile, Account and Member Content in the Community Services).

Upon termination, Hearing First will have no further obligation or responsibility to you and you will have no further obligation or responsibility to Hearing First; provided, however, the foregoing statement does not apply to any liability, responsibility, or obligation of either party existing or arising prior to the effective date of termination. Your obligations under these Terms, which by their nature are intended to survive termination (such as indemnification and limitations of liability) shall survive the termination of your access to the Offerings (including your Profile, Account and Member Content in the Community Services).

Hearing First retains the right to retain archival copies of all information related to your Account, Profile, Member Content and Editorial Comments and may use the information for whatever purposes we deem appropriate.

Deactivation of the Offerings

We reserve the right at any time and from time to time to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the Offerings, or any part or portion thereof, with or without notice to you. You agree that we shall not be liable to you or to any third party for any modification, suspension or discontinuance of the Offerings, or any part or portion thereof. Nothing in these Terms shall be construed to obligate Hearing First to maintain and support the Offerings, or any part or portion thereof, during the term of these Terms.

Notice of Claims of Intellectual Property Violations

The Offerings may include pictures, video, information, testimonials, letters, marks, slogans and other content uploaded or provided by third parties or otherwise received from third parties. In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and other applicable law, Hearing First does not permit the use of any Content or Member Content as part of the Offerings that infringes on the copyright or trademarks or rights of publicity of others, and Hearing First will take reasonable steps to remove any such Content that violates the copyright or trademarks or other rights of others if properly notified of such violation in accordance with the procedure set forth in these Terms. In addition, Hearing First, in our sole discretion, may limit access to the Offerings and/or may terminate any Account used in connection with the infringement of any intellectual property rights, whether or not there is repeat infringement.

If you believe that any of the Offerings or any content contributed by third parties or Members infringes your copyright or trademark rights or your rights of publicity, please provide Hearing First’s general counsel (whose contact information is provided below) with the following information:

Contact information (such as an address, telephone number and/or electronic mail address) and a physical or electronic signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
Identification of the copyrighted work or mark or publicity right claimed to have been infringed, or, if you believe that multiple works, marks or publicity rights have been infringed on the Site, a representative list of such works, marks or publicity rights.
Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit Hearing First to locate the material.
A statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the owner, its agent, or the law.
A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

An alleged infringer may provide counter-notice to Hearing First’s general counsel (whose contact information is provided below) that includes the following:

Contact information (such as an address, telephone number and/or electronic mail address) and a physical or electronic signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the counter-notifying party.
Identification of the material that has been removed or disabled and the location where the material was before its removal or disablement.
A statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification.
A statement that you consent to jurisdiction of the federal court in your district, or if you are outside of the United States, that you consent to jurisdiction in a federal court in any location where Hearing First is subject to jurisdiction, and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided Hearing First with notification or an agent of such person.

We suggest that you consult an attorney before sending us a notice or counter-notice of any claim of infringement of any copyright or trademark or right of publicity. Hearing First’s agent for the notice or counter-notice of any claim of infringement of any copyright or trademark or right of publicity is Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis, LLP, which can be reached by mail or facsimile as follows:

Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis, LLP
Attn: Drew Kastner, Esq.
1600 Market St., Suite 3600
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Email: dkastner@schnader.com

Please provide all of the information requested above. No specific form is required to provide Hearing First with notifications of possible infringement or counter-notification. However, it will take Hearing First longer to process your notice if any of this information is not provided, and in some cases, we may not be able to process your notice.

Privacy

Hearing First understands that visitors accessing the Offerings may be concerned about the information that they may provide or that may be generated from their access of the Offerings and may have questions about how Hearing First may use such information. Protecting privacy is an important priority to Hearing First. Our Privacy Policy governs the collection, use, retention and disclosure of personal information and aggregate information gathered from the visitors’ access of the Offerings. By agreeing to these Terms, you are also accepting and agreeing to our Privacy Policy.

Equitable Remedies

You agree that, if the terms of these Terms are not specifically enforced, we will be irreparably damaged, and therefore you agree that we shall be entitled, without bond, other security or proof of damages, to appropriate equitable remedies with respect to any breach(es), in addition to any other available remedies.

Governing Law; Venue; Statute of Limitations

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, U.S.A., excluding any conflict of laws, rules or similar principals, and the applicable laws, regulations and treaties of the United States of America. Any action arising out of any dispute with respect to this Agreement shall only be brought in the state or federal courts located in Philadelphia County, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. You agree that any claim against Hearing First shall be brought within one year from when the claim arose regardless of the applicable statute of limitations, and any claims not brought within such period of time shall be deemed waived.

Dispute Resolution

In the event of any dispute arising out of these Terms, you and Hearing First each agree to use good faith efforts to resolve our differences amicably. In the event those efforts are unsuccessful, you and Hearing First agree not to commence litigation until attempting to resolve our dispute through mediation. Either you or Hearing First may initiate the mediation process with thirty (30) days’ prior written notice to the other. The dispute shall be submitted to mediation in Pennsylvania, U.S.A. Costs of mediation shall be borne equally by both you and Hearing First. Mediation of the dispute shall be completed within fifteen (15) days of commencement, unless you and Hearing First agree to extend the time by mutual agreement or unless the mediator declares you and Hearing First to be at an impasse. Notwithstanding the above, in the event that Hearing First believes that immediate injunctive relief is required to protect its rights, Hearing First may invoke the immediate powers of the appropriate court of law without the requirement to first mediate the dispute.

Miscellaneous

You agree that no joint venture, partnership, employment or agency relationship exists between you and Hearing First as a result of these Terms or your use of the Offerings.

If any provision of these Terms is held to be illegal, invalid, or unenforceable, then that provision shall be fully severable from these Terms and shall not affect the legality, validity, or enforceability of the remaining provisions of these Terms.

Failure by us to enforce any particular term of these Terms shall not be construed as a waiver of any of our rights hereunder.

These Terms have been written in the English language and the English language shall control. These Terms, which are in English, shall be interpreted in accordance with the commonly understood meaning of the words and phrases in the United States of America. You waive any right that you may have under local law to receive these Terms in any language other than English.

These Terms (and each supplemental agreement referenced in or referencing these Terms found on the Site) constitutes the entire agreement between you and Hearing First with respect to the Offerings.

Contact Information

If you have any questions regarding these Terms, you may contact Hearing First by mail or email as follows:

Hearing First
1600 Market St., Suite 3600
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Email: info@hearingfirst.org

PRIVACY POLICY

Hearing First (“Hearing First” or “we” or “us” or “our”) respects your privacy and is committed to handling information you share with us for purposes of accessing our services in accordance with responsible practice. You can visit most pages on the Site (as defined below) without giving us any personal information about yourself, but sometimes we need information to provide services or resources that you request as well as to improve the information and services that we offer. This Privacy Policy explains our data collection and use. This Privacy Policy also explains our collection and use of personally identifiable information from visitors who voluntarily access, use or participate in Hearing First’s Content (“Content”), Hearing First’s Services (“Services”), and/or the Hearing First Community (“Community”) and its Services (“Community Services”). By visiting, accessing, using or participating in the Site, the Content, the Services or Community, or the Community Services (collectively, “Offerings”), you acknowledge that you have read this Privacy Policy and that you consent to the information practices described herein.

Hearing First is a not-for-profit organization based in the United States. Hearing First will retain your personal information to fulfill the purposes described in this Privacy Policy and your personal information stored on the Site or as part of the Offerings may be collected, stored and processed in the United States of America. By using the Offerings, you consent to the transfer of your information to facilities in the United States and to those facilities of the qualified vendors, sub-contractors and third parties (“Designated Third Parties”) with whom we share it (as described herein) that are located in the United States or other countries.

This Privacy Policy applies to www.hearingfirst.org, www.startshear.org, and any sub-domains associated with those URLs or other websites operated by or for Hearing First (collectively, the “Site”). The Site may contain links to other sites, including social media platforms, operated by third parties, including, but not limited to, sites that may display the name, trademarks, service marks and logos of Hearing First. This Privacy Policy does not apply to other third-party sites that may be accessible through the Site. This Privacy Policy does not apply to the practices of persons or entities that Hearing First does not control, manage or employ. We encourage you to read the terms of use and privacy policies of other sites and platforms to learn how they collect and use information about you.

In order to carry out our work, we regularly contract with Designated Third Parties for specialized services related to the operation and maintenance of the Offerings. Such Designated Third Parties may include, but are not limited to, Telligent, WordPress, Google Analytics, Google Optimize, Hubspot, Hotjar and others.

In order to fully understand your rights, you should read this entire Privacy Policy as well as our Terms of Use. Since we are continually looking to implement new technologies and improve services and features to better achieve our goals and improve the user experience, this Privacy Policy is subject to change. Hearing First reserves the right at any time and without notice to change this Privacy Policy. If there are changes or additions to this Privacy Policy, we will post those changes here or in other formats that we deem acceptable. All changes will be effective immediately upon posting. Your access, use of or participation in the Offerings constitutes your acknowledgment that you have read and understand the currently-posted Privacy Policy and that you accept and consent to our privacy practices and any uses and disclosures of information about or provided by you that are described in this Privacy Policy.

What type of information does Hearing First COLLECT?

While you are visiting, accessing or participating in the Offerings, Hearing First may collect different types of information: personal information that you share voluntarily, including personally identifiable information and demographic information, and aggregate information.

1. Information You Provide

In order to gain access to certain areas of our Site or to take advantage of certain Offerings, you may choose to provide information about yourself and your family. When you request additional information to be sent to you, participate in our surveys, post comments, sign up as a member of the Hearing First Community, participate in online discussions, submit online forms to participate in Hearing First activities, request email or text messaging reminders or share photos, videos, audio or narrative information about your or your family’s “story”, you are voluntarily submitting personal information. In addition, Hearing First may collect your personal information from other sources such as when you voluntarily provide such information to us in person, by email, by phone, or by direct mail.

Some of the personal information you share to gain access to or to participate in our Offerings may be demographic such as zip code, profession, relationship to children who are deaf or hard of hearing and ages of those children or anticipated due date of your baby. Other personal information you share may be what is known as “personally identifiable information”. This means that the information can be used alone or in combination with other information to identify you. To access or participate in certain Offerings, you may be asked to provide your first and last names, an email address, a telephone number to receive text messages and/or a password to establish an account. Your name, email address and telephone number are considered personally identifiable information.

2. Aggregate Information Collected Automatically

When you access or participate in our Offerings, we may use a variety of analytics tools and technologies to automatically collect aggregate information about your visit and use. When we refer to “aggregate information” we mean information that is non-personally identifiable or anonymous information about you, such as pages of the Site you accessed most frequently, time you spent on a page or area of the Site, the number of visits you made and when, the type of browser, computer or device you used, cookie preferences or search terms you entered, sites you visited prior to our Site and errors you may have encountered from the Site. We gather information about your and other visitors’ use of our Offerings through cookies (described below), scripts, Internet tags or web beacons and navigational data collection (log files, server logs, clickstream). The analytics tools and technologies we use require storage of web-session data that we then use in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

3. Information Shared by Third-Party Partners

In some cases, we have entered into agreements with third-party partners to conduct joint activities related to advancing our mission, such as distributing information and resources about the importance of hearing to brain development and the availability of newborn hearing screenings. If you have shared your name and email address with those third-party partners, they may share that information with us pursuant to their terms of use, privacy policy, and our agreement. We may use that information to contact you directly with information about our work. If you do not wish to receive further communications from us, you can opt out at any time by following the instructions on the communication. Please allow a reasonable period of time for us to satisfy your request as some communications may already be in process.

How does Hearing First USE the information we collect?

We collect information about you (personally identifiable, demographic and aggregate information) as part of the Offerings we provide and because we want to determine what you may like or find interesting. This data will allow us to customize information and activities for you through our Offerings and in newsletters, via email, by text message and otherwise. By default, our plan is for you to receive a personalized experience while browsing our website and/or accessing or participating in our Offerings.

In addition, we may want to use your personal stories, which may include your personal information, to help further our mission and support families who have a child who is deaf or hard of hearing. By sharing information you provide about your family’s story or about your professional work with children who are deaf or hard of hearing, we can provide more information through the Offerings to support other families and professionals and the children in their lives. However, we will not share personal information you share with us without your permission.

If you contact us for support or assistance, we may use information about you, your family or your system for purposes such as whether you or your system meet the minimum requirements to access and participate in our Offerings.

Finally, we may use the information we collect for internal purposes such as tracking demographic data and updating our content to improve the user experience. We may use the data, where personally identifiable information has been removed or aggregated (such that it is anonymous with regard to any specific user) to create statistics and reports for various research, education and business purposes. In addition, we may make our aggregate data that has been deidentified available to third party organizations who share a similar mission for similar, non-commercial purposes. We reserve the right to use and share aggregate or non-personally identifying information data at our discretion.

How does Hearing First use COOKIES?

Hearing First uses small files known as “cookies” to gather information. A cookie is placed on your computer (or other device) by your Internet browser when you access our Offerings. We use cookies through our Offerings or our Designated Third Parties’ services to passively gather information about you and your use of the Offerings. We currently use two types of cookies but may add additional cookies in the future. We use a “Standard Cookie”, which is stored on a user’s hard drive, to collect information about each user; and we use a “Session Cookie” to collect information while a user is actively connected to the Offerings. Session Cookies are destroyed when a user closes the web browser or is otherwise inactive for more than a certain period of time.

Hearing First uses cookies for a variety of purposes. We use Standard Cookies primarily to allow us to differentiate between new and returning users and between different devices associated with a single user. Session Cookies, which are only active while a user is active on the Site, allow our users to navigate freely through our Offerings once they have logged in. Without Session Cookies, a member of the Hearing First Community would have to log in each time they request access to a community page. Session Cookies are also used while a member is joining, renewing, or altering account information by allowing the Offerings to track the user’s activity before the data is committed to our database. Finally, Session Cookies allow us and our third-party providers to collect other technical and navigational information, such as browser type, time spent on the Offerings or in certain areas and pages visited.

Most popular Internet browser applications will allow you to configure the browser so as not to accept cookies. However, setting your browser to reject cookies may, in certain instances, prevent you from taking full advantage of the Offerings and may cause some of the features Hearing First offers to be inaccessible.

What does Hearing First do to PROTECT the information collected?

We take commercially reasonable steps to protect personally identifiable information that we collect from loss, misuse and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration or destruction using industry-standard physical, technological and administrative measures. We may treat information that does not contain personally identifiable information you share as part of your access to or participation in the Offerings, including without limitation general demographic information, comments, posts, documents, photos, or videos, confidentially and in the same manner as personally identifiable information.

In sharing any information you consider personal, you should pay attention to the virtual space and context in which you are posting information, including whether the space is generally open to viewing by the public or whether the space is restricted to members-only, such as the Hearing First Community. In either case, however, you should always keep in mind that no Internet transmission, particularly email, and no virtual space, including the Hearing First Community, can be entirely protected, and all are subject to security breaches of varying magnitude. In using our Offerings, you agree to notify us immediately of any breach of the security of the Site, the Offerings, this Privacy Policy, or the Terms of Use of which you become aware.

Hearing First cannot control the actions of other visitors who access or participate in the Offerings and is therefore not responsible for any content posted or actions taken by those visitors. Similarly, Hearing First has no control over or responsibility for third party websites or social media platforms on which we may have a presence and on which our name, trademarks, service marks and logos may be displayed, including but not limited to, Facebook, Twitter, Google, Outbrain, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram, BabyCenter and What to Expect. By visiting any of our pages that are contained on any third party website or social media platform, you are representing and warranting to us that you have reviewed the applicable privacy statement and terms of use associated with that third party website or social media platform and that you will abide by all provisions contained therein.

Does the Site respond to Do Not Track signals?

The Site does not currently respond to Do Not Track signals.

Does Hearing First SHARE information that has been collected?

Hearing First will not sell, lease or rent your personal information or share your personal information with third parties for commercial purposes, including direct marketing by those third parties.

From time to time, we may be required to provide personal information or aggregate information in response to a valid court order, subpoena, government investigation, or as otherwise required by law, or if we reasonably believe that you have committed unlawful acts or acts that may endanger the health or safety of another user or the general public. We also reserve the right to report to law enforcement agencies any activities that we, in good faith, believe to be unlawful. We may release certain personal information when we believe that such release is reasonably necessary to protect the rights, property, and safety of others and ourselves.

We may also share your personal information with any of our Designated Third Parties, vendors and subcontractors. We may share, assign or transfer your personal information with our affiliates and/or any successors in interest to our organization by merger, reorganization, or operation of law. In particular, as described above, we may share your personal information with Designated Third Parties for purposes of operating and maintaining the Offerings as well as better understanding and improving the user experience.

Do I have CHOICES regarding how my personal information is shared and used?

1. Posting Information

Hearing First makes available through its Offerings certain public forums (by which we mean forums open to the general public and not restricted to members-only) so that you may have an opportunity to interact with other Site visitors in order to share knowledge and news or participate in activities and events relating to Hearing First’s mission. An example of a public forum is the Hearing First blog and the commenting feature that is available to the general public. Because participation in such forums is voluntary, you control what personal information may be disclosed to others. In order to avoid having your email address or other personal information gathered and used by others for unsolicited, inappropriate or harmful purposes, Hearing First advises that you should always be cautious about posting your email address, phone number or any personal information to public forums.

In addition, Hearing First has made available a Hearing First Community which is restricted to members who voluntarily choose to join the Community and who meet the membership criteria. If you voluntarily choose to participate in the Hearing First Community, you will be asked to register to create a Member Account and to provide certain information about yourself including your first and last names, email address and general demographic information. You will also be asked to create a password to access your Member Account. Hearing First will share your name, state and country with other members of the Hearing First Community as part of the Community Services.

Finally, Hearing First may choose to make available certain Services to the public, such as an email notification or text-message reminder system of important information related to hearing health activities. If you choose to participate in such Services, you may be asked to provide your first and last name, an email address and/or a telephone number to receive text messages.

2. Modifying or Deleting Information/Opt-out

Members of the Hearing First Community and others who have evinced an interest in or consent to receiving communications from Hearing First will periodically receive email or other communications from Hearing First. We consider -- and all Hearing First Community Members and other users of the Offerings hereby acknowledge and agree -- that providing contact information (such as an email address or telephone number for text messaging) as part of creating a Member Account, requesting access to certain Services or Content or otherwise through the Site constitutes an individual’s consent to receive messages or other communications from Hearing First. If you no longer wish to receive our communications, you can opt out at any time by following the instructions on the communication. Please allow a reasonable period of time for us to satisfy your request as some communications may already be in process. There are certain communications related to the Hearing First Community that will continue to be sent to Community members such as account updates and registration information. Please note that even if you opt out of receiving our communications, Hearing First may retain your information for analytical and other internal purposes, so long as you remain a member of the Community.

If you have posted personal information to the Offerings as part of a public forum or as part of your participation in Community Services and you want to remove that information, you may do so by deleting the post. If another user has posted personal information about you that you want removed, you may contact Hearing First at info@hearingfirst.org to make the request. We will determine if there is cause pursuant to our Terms of Use and act accordingly.

If you have joined the Hearing First Community, you can edit the information you provide about yourself by editing your profile. If you need assistance editing a post to a public forum or editing other information you have provided, you may contact Hearing First at info@hearingfirst.org for assistance. Additionally, you can request Hearing First to deactivate your Member Account at any time by submitting a request to info@hearingfirst.org.

When seeking to have your personal information removed or deleted, please be aware that some information, messages, posts, etc., depending on the type and how posted, may not be entirely removable and may still be viewable or accessible by third parties (e.g., in archived or cached pages or in copies that were printed or saved by other users). If you request that your Hearing First Member Account be permanently deleted or if you request that another user’s post pertaining to you be removed and if we agree that removal is appropriate pursuant to our Terms of Use, we will use our best efforts to comply with your request. However, in accessing and participating in the Offerings, you specifically acknowledge your understanding that complete removal is not always possible in today’s digital world.

Does Hearing First collect information from CHILDREN?

The mission of Hearing First is to support families and professionals in a variety of ways to ensure that children who are deaf or hard of hearing have opportunities to reach their full potential, particularly through listening and spoken language. The Offerings are designed for and intended to be used by adults, not by children themselves. Hearing First does not intentionally collect personal information from children under the age of 13. If we discover that we have inadvertently collected personal information from a person under the age of 13, we will delete it.

Visitors accessing or participating in our Offerings acknowledge and agree that they are eighteen (18) years of age or older. To join the Hearing First Community and use the Community Services, a visitor must confirm that they are eighteen (18) years of age or older at the time of registration. If a visitor who is between the ages of thirteen (13) and eighteen (18) years of age wants to access or participate in our Offerings, they must have their parent or guardian agree to our Terms of Use and give permission.

In addition, while we collect information about babies and children from their parents, we ask that our visitors and Community Members not provide information about a baby or a child without first getting the parents’ consent. We encourage parents to talk to their children about their use of the internet and the information they disclose on websites.

What about my private HEALTH and EDUCATION Information?

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ("HIPAA") may regulate and limit the use and disclosure of your and your child’s private health information by certain healthcare institutions. Similarly, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (“FERPA”) may regulate and limit the use and disclosure of personally identifiable information derived from education records. You should know that the HIPAA regulations apply to information gathered in the treatment of patients and the FERPA regulations apply to information gathered by educational agencies and institutions that receive funding under any program administered by the U.S. Department of Education. Hearing First is not a healthcare provider or educational institution and HIPAA and FERPA generally do not apply to Hearing First’s activities or to information we gather from visitors accessing or participating in our Offerings.

If I give Hearing First the name and email address of my FAMILY OR FRIENDS, how is that information used?

If you elect to access or participate in any features of our Offerings to inform a friend or family member about Hearing First or otherwise communicate, Hearing First may ask for that person’s name and email address. We may automatically send the friend or family member an email inviting them to visit the Site, join the Hearing First Community or otherwise provide the information requested by you. Hearing First will not store the name and email address after the communication is sent.

What constitutes my ACCEPTANCE of this Privacy Policy?

By accessing or participating in any Offerings, you expressly consent to the use and disclosure of information as described in this Privacy Policy. Your continued access to or participation in the Offerings after the effective date of any modification to the Privacy Policy will be deemed to be your agreement to the changed terms. You agree to review the Privacy Policy each time you access or participate in the Offerings so that you are aware of such modifications.

Does Hearing First Use REMARKETING SERVICES?

Hearing First uses the Google AdWords and Facebook re-marketing service to advertise on third party websites (including Google) to previous visitors to our Site. It could mean that we advertise to previous visitors who have not completed a task on our Site, for example using the contact form to make an inquiry. This could be in the form of an advertisement on the Google search results page, a site in the Google Display Network, or on Facebook or Instagram. Third-party vendors, including Google and Facebook, use cookies to serve ads based on someone’s past visits to the Hearing First website. Any data collected will be used in accordance with this Privacy Policy, Google’s privacy policy, and Facebook’s privacy policy. You may opt out of Google’s use of cookies by visiting Google’s Ads settings. You may adjust your settings on Facebook by visiting Facebook Help Resources.

Shine the Light Requests.

If you are a California resident, California law allows you to request that we tell you what categories of personally identifiable information we disclosed to third parties for their direct marketing purposes in the previous twelve (12) months, and to whom we disclosed them. If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please submit your request via emails to info@hearingfirst.org using the subject line “California Shine the Light Request.”

Contact Us.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, you may contact Hearing First by mail or email as follows:

Hearing First
1600 Market St., Suite 3600
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Email: info@hearingfirst.org

HOW TO USE HEARING FIRST RESOURCES

Hearing First has created all of our website content, videos and resources with the goal that if you find them valuable, you will use, share and refer to them regularly for personal and educational purposes. You may view, print, download or share any of our materials and we hope that you will do so.

If you are a parent of a child who is deaf or hard of hearing, consider sharing our videos, handouts and other materials with your family members and friends or with professionals who are on your child’s LSL Team. Professionals, you may want to use our materials as client handouts during a session, link to them in your next professional presentation, share them with your colleagues for discussion or refer to them during your next learning experience. However you choose to use our materials, we ask that you adhere to our guidelines.

To share videos, resources or links, follow these three easy steps:

Share the materials in their entirety with no alterations to the content and including any copyright notices and Hearing First logos that appear on the originals.
If you are embedding the materials within a document, article, presentation, etc., credit Hearing First as the owner and refer the audience to visit www.hearingfirst.org for more information.
If you are linking to the Hearing First website, you may include up to two paragraphs of content from the page, article or resource you are linking to for purposes of describing the materials.

If you wish to use Hearing First materials in a non-educational context or as part of a project that would require their alteration, or if you wish to use our logo on its own and separate from our materials, you must first obtain our written permission. Contact us at info@hearingfirst.org and include the following information. We will be happy to help you!

Your name, company name (if applicable), email address and phone number
Details of how you plan to use the information or logo

We love to hear from you! If you have ideas about other content that you feel Hearing First could develop or if you would like to play a role in helping us develop materials, please send your comments to info@hearingfirst.org.

HEARING FIRST COMMUNITY CODE OF CONDUCT

The Hearing First Community is a place to connect, share information, seek support and learn from each other to improve LSL practice and outcomes for children who are deaf or hard of hearing. To ensure the dialogue remains supportive, relevant and engaging for everyone, all Community members are expected to observe these principles.

We ...

support each other best when we know where you are. We’re all on the LSL journey and have our own story to share. Members connect best with one another when we share our stories - successes, frustrations, celebrations, trials, and all. There is always someone who can benefit from hearing your personal story.
share to our comfort levels and that’s okay. Every member determines their level of comfort with sharing information online. Some of us will share photos, some will share stories, and some will listen in. All journeys are welcome because they are shared.
connect by asking, not by telling. We’ll be asking each other many questions and sharing many requests for support. The best response is to be present, ask questions and share your approach or ideas, rather than dictating what is right.
comment respectfully. We understand that every individual feels strongly about how to best support infants and children who are deaf or hard of hearing, and we expect members to comment thoughtfully and with respect throughout the Community.
honor everyone’s story and value privacy. This space is safe for all of us to ask questions and share takeaways from the LSL journeys that we’re on. We respect our Community members’ privacy and expect our members to ensure individual information belonging to members, their families or the children and families they work with remains private and that personally identifiable information is not shared. You can find more information at HIPAA and FERPA.
honor and respect each other’s contributions and original works. We celebrate, acknowledge and respect the intellectual property of others and the copyright of materials. Fair use allows the posting of small excerpts or a web link to the full article. We expect that members of our Community either own the copyright or trademark in the materials they are positing or have obtained the owner’s permission to post them.
let each other know when they have helped. If you received the information you needed or learned something new, please share this with the Community. Knowing you made a difference makes participating more fun.
recognize we each have our own opinions. The comments and opinions of each Community member are not necessarily comments and opinions shared by Hearing First or other Community members. We respect our right to differ in our thoughts and opinions and to engage in open discussions of differing viewpoints.
agree that our interactions are members of a Community and not contractual services. We will seek individual services and consultations from our own healthcare and educational professionals who are familiar with our personal needs and we will not rely on statement by Hearing First or Community members as a substitute for individual care in our community.

Moderation aims

Our Community guidelines aim to ensure our Community is inclusive and inviting. Our moderators apply the above principles when reviewing your comments: In addition, our moderators will ensure that user comments are relevant and appropriate to the conversation, and may take any steps they deem necessary to ensure content meets the Community’s comment moderation policy.

Comment moderation policy

Postings may be edited or deleted for a variety of reasons including space or clarity; to remove offensive, threatening or unlawful content; to avoid repetition; or if the post violates our Terms of User or our Privacy Policy. You will not be directly contacted if your post has been edited, rejected or deleted.

Contributors may not submit content that is threatening, abusive, defamatory, indecent, menacing, harassing, offensive, infringes any person’s intellectual property rights, including copyright, impersonates anyone, misrepresents a relationship with any person or organization, encourages others to commit unlawful acts, is unlawful in any way or otherwise violates our Terms of Use or our Privacy Policy. It is in your best interests, as well as ours, to ensure that all content is lawful and in accordance with this Code of Conduct.

Queries or comments about moderation will not be published. The moderator’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. Abusive posts will be deleted, as will posts asking ‘why was my post deleted?’

If you have any concerns about content posted in the community, you may contact the Community Leader at info@hearingfirst.org.

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