Johnny Depp Helps Hearing Impaired
(Photo by Pedro Gomes/Getty Images for Starkey Hearing Foundation)
Celebrated actor Johnny Depp, 52, joined his bandmates Alice Cooper and Joe Perry in helping fit and adjust free hearing aids in Lisbon, Portugal on Friday, May 27th. They were joined by frequent collaborators Robert Deleo, Tommy Henriksen and Bruce Witkin. Depp, Cooper and Perry belong to the band The Hollywood Vampires, which has recently partnered up with the Starkey Hearing Foundation to help bring awareness to the cause of eradicating hearing impairment around the world. More than 30 patients from Santa Casa de Misericordia de Lisboa, a local Catholic charity, received the hearing aids from Depp and his friends.
This is not the first time the Hollywood Vampires have helped the hearing impaired, either. Last September, a similar event in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, saw the Vampires crew helping over 200 people get fitted for free hearing aids, also donated by the Starkey Hearing Foundation. At that event, Depp and his bandmates were joined by the members of the band Queens of the Stone Age.
Depp and Cooper both said that the highlight of each event was not the incredibly large concert which followed the hearing aid fittings, but the chance to help people hear for the first time, to enjoy music, and to live more independently. “We are getting the gift,” said Depp. At one point, Cooper hummed “The Girl from Ipanema” into the ear of an elderly woman who was getting fitted in order to test her new device. The woman told Cooper she preferred salsa music, and then began to dance.
The Starkey Hearing Foundation is a charity which was founded by William F. Austin in 1984. Since being founded, the organization has provided more than 1.8 million hearing aids to people in need. Their motto, “So the World May Hear”, refers to the Foundation’s international vision of helping everyone around the globe receive the gift of hearing. They have provided hearing aids in over 100 countries, and have committed to providing 1 million hearing aids this decade.
At this event, workers from the Starkey Foundation showed patients and their families how to care for and use their new devices, in addition to providing counseling and training.
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