Yamaha Canada Shares the Gift of Music with the Hard of Hearing

For people who have a passion for music, losing the ability to hear impacts more than just everyday life. It slowly disconnects them from an aspect of their life that they once drew great pleasure from. Yamaha Canada Music is launching a project to reunite Cochlear Implant patients with their passion and draw attention to an often overlooked disability.

The Cochlear Implant is an electronic device that is surgically inserted into a patient’s inner ear. The device provides a sense of sound to the profoundly deaf or severely hard of hearing.

As part of an over-arching campaign to encourage people to share their “Random Acts of Music,” Yamaha Canada Music is spending a day at the Cochlear Implant Clinic at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Hospital, surprising Cochlear hearing implant patients with live music performances.

“For some of these patients, this will be the first live music they have heard in years,” says Laurence Metrick, President of The Metrick System, the agency producing the campaign. “Music is the universal language we all communicate through. It’s something most of us take for granted. We’re hoping this event will shed more light on why people with hearing loss need more funding.”

Yamaha sponsored violinist, Lenny Solomon, will be performing live during the event for a number of Cochlear Implant recipients, while film director Goh Iromoto captures patient reactions.

“I think live performance is the most emotionally powerful form of musical expression. The fact that some of these patients had that gift taken away through hearing loss will make for an emotional reunion. I’m excited and energized at the prospect of capturing this event,” said Iromoto.

To further support the campaign Yamaha has created a microsite where people can view the film and can submit their own Random Acts Of Music. The goal of the campaign is to position Yamaha as more than just makers of fine instruments and sound equipment, but as supporters of those who spread the gift of music throughout the world.

Steve Butterworth, Vice-President, Musical Instruments, Sales and Marketing speaks to the initiative. “At Yamaha, we wanted to remind people of how special it is to share the gift of music. By sharing the stories of people who loved music, lost it, and have now regained it through the wonderful work of the Sunnybrook Cochlear Clinic, we hope to inspire Canadians to make and share their own Random Acts of Music- an act of kindness, expressed through music to brighten people’s days and to inspire beauty in today’s world.”