The Hearing Rehabilitation Foundation, Inc

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The Hearing Rehabilitation Foundation, Inc

Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from The Hearing Rehabilitation Foundation, Inc, 400 West Cummings Park, Suite 5700, Woburn, MA.

The Hearing Rehabilitation Foundation, Inc is a registered 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit organization established to promote and provide speech (auditory) communication training for adults with hearing loss.

07/06/2026

We hope everyone is having a wonderful summer.
Here is another board member spotlight. Thaddeus (Tad) Zelski!

During my 45 years in the hearing aid industry, I owned and managed SEHAS, Inc. /Atlanta Hearing Aid Service from 1975 to 1988. I was instrumental in the commercial introduction of a range of audiology instrumentation such as tympanometry, electro-acoustic impedance, OEA, BSER, FM auditory training systems, vibro-tactile training systems, frequency lower amplification and marketing the first digital hearing aids in the 1980’s and 1990’s. In 1990, I was selected as an advisor and trainer to the Chinese Disabled Person Federation for the selection of FM training instrumentation for use in deaf education in the Peoples Republic of China. As a sales representative for Widex hearing aids in New York City, I was responsible for sales in 5 Mid-Atlantic states.

Adult aural rehabilitation is important to me as I felt that hearing aids were only a partial strategy in improved communication for adult hearing loss. Supporting the work of the Hearing Rehabilitation Foundation is a way for me to contribute.

05/13/2026

Faces on the Wall #3
Raymond Antrobus is a recent addition to the display on the wall of the training room at the HRF. He is a British poet and author who writes beautifully about being hard-of-hearing In a hearing world. He has written about his early experiences with hearing aids in the children’s book, ”Can Bears Ski?” His poem “The First Time I Wore Hearing Aids” is available on YouTube and is a humorous account of his early listening experiences.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G9dy8nCbuE
I would also highly recommend his memoir, “The Quiet Ear.” Google his name to find out more about this very talented writer.

05/07/2026

The next conference in this series will be in June, 2026. Please join us!

04/29/2026

We wanted to highlight another one of our board members, Kathy Cienkowski!

Kathy Cienkowski, PhD, is a tenured Professor in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at the University of Connecticut, where she currently serves as Interim Department Head. Her work focuses on the management of hearing loss across the lifespan, grounded in a patient- and family-centered care model and informed by a strong commitment to community-engaged scholarship. She serves as the Audiology Discipline Coordinator for the Connecticut Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (CT LEND) program and is co-investigator on the pediatric LEND supplement grant. Her research and training initiatives have been supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIDCD) and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. She is also a past president of the Academy of Rehabilitative Audiology and a former Coordinator of American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Special Interest Group 7. She also served as a co-author of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Aural Rehabilitation Practice Guidelines, contributing to national standards that guide evidence-based clinical care.

04/13/2026

The Hearing Rehabilitation Foundation, based in Woburn, MA, is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving communication for individuals with hearing loss, cochlear implants, and hearing aids through specialized training, testing, and music therapy. Training sessions provide a "hearing workout" to increase listening skills, stamina, confidence and listening enjoyment. On site and virtual training options available. We operate on a pay-what-you-can model. A $50 contribution helps sustain our work; we gladly adjust for financial need."

We are now enrolling for Music Training (Fridays only) with our Music Therapist, to improve music listening, enjoyment and engagement.

DM us or email [email protected] to talk more!

04/01/2026

Here is another one of our amazing board members, Carol Menton!

Carol Menton (seen here with the amazing Kerryn Plant at the recent HRF Open House) holds a BS in Government from Suffolk University and an MSW from Salem State University. She has over 20 years of professional experience in community based supports, consultation and systems change initiatives for Deaf, hard of hearing and disabled individuals and families. She currently works in the Community Services Division at the Massachusetts Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. She is also teaching classes in social policy and community practice as a visiting instructor in the MSW program at the Salem State University School of Social Work.

With bilateral cochlear implants Carol knows first-hand the critical importance of aural rehabilitation and is grateful to the HRF for their support in this journey! While not a musician, she loves music, especially concerts (most recently the amazing Brandi Carlile at TD Garden), musical theater (on tap next week, Suffs at the Colonial in Boston), and live outdoor performances everywhere in the spring, summer and fall!

She is a long-time member of the Association of Late-Deafened Adults (ALDA), Inc., and currently serves on the ALDAcon 2026 Program Committee; she reminds everyone that workshop proposals (https://alda.org/about-aldacon/) are being accepted until Thursday, May 14.

03/11/2026

Here is another one of our amazing board members, Peggy Ellertsen!

Peggy Ellertsen is an advocate for persons with hearing loss, with particular interest in improved systems for safe and accurate communication access in healthcare. Her advocacy also concentrates on stakeholder education for assistive listening solutions in public places and awareness about the importance of hearing protection in noisy environments.
A certified speech/language pathologist, now retired, Peggy is a Life Member of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and a past affiliate of ASHA’s Special Interest Groups for Public Health Audiology and Auditory Rehabilitation. She is is co-creator of Healthcare with Hearing Loss, a blog series designed to inform stakeholders about strategic planning to improve access to accommodations in healthcare encounters. A long-time member of Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA), Peggy is a past member of the HLAA Board of Directors and works with HLAA’s strategic team for Communication Access in Health Care. In June, 2025, Peggy received the HLAA Rocky Stone Humanitarian Award.
As a person with severe sensorineural hearing loss and an HRF client, Peggy has gleaned significant benefit from intensive aural rehabilitation at the highest level of quality. Her time spent in training has helped her to develop insights about her personal listening habits and has built her resilience for listening in challenging environments. With great gratitude, she serves on the Board of the Hearing Rehabilitation Foundation.
Peggy lives with her husband in Newton, MA and spends much of her time in New York City and New Orleans with her daughters, son-in-law, and grandchild. She uses a cochlear implant and hearing aid.

03/03/2026

One of our clients owns a nightclub and was looking for things to put up on the walls. I volunteered to paint an old guitar and she was able to provide me with a beat up, unplayable instrument. It took a lot of cleaning before I started to paint it and l’m happy with the final result. I’ll miss it when it goes to its new home.

02/23/2026

In case you’re new here (or just need a refresher!) The Hearing Rehabilitation Foundation provides services and supports for people with hearing loss — because everyone deserves the opportunity to connect and communicate fully. Email [email protected] if you would like to receive listening training.

02/16/2026

FACES ON THE WALL #2
Ludvig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827) is regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time. Beethoven acquired a hearing loss some time around the age of 30, but, despite this, continued to compose great works for the remaining 30 or so years of his life. His Ninth Symphony, for example, composed when he was over 50, is regarded by many as his greatest work. Many musicians who have developed a hearing loss are often told by well-meaning friends that they can keep on playing and enjoying music, because … “just look at Beethoven.” So, what’s the problem? Put simply, Beethoven was a genius, and it’s unfair to have him imposed as a role model. When you think of the Ninth Symphony, consider he was writing for an orchestra of around 100 players, plus solo singers and a mass choir. And all of this he “heard” in his head!
There are several pictures of Beethoven scattered around the HRF office. There’s even a plaster bust near the front door and several children seeing it have asked me ‘why is the man angry?” It’s a good question, and if you read the Heiligenstadt Testament, a letter he wrote to his brothers in 1802, you will find the answer, at least partially. In this letter, which was never sent, Beethoven confided to his brothers that he had contemplated su***de because of his declining hearing. He wrote that he found it was “impossible for me to say to people, “Speak louder, shout, for I am deaf,” believing, perhaps, that would diminish people’s regard for his music. Despite Beethoven describing himself as deaf in this letter, it seems that he was able to hear well enough to have spoken conversations until around 1812. After 1818, he was forced to carry a notebook with him so that people could write down their side of the conversation for him to read. More than 100 of these notebooks still exist, and show that the conversations he engaged in covered a wide range of subjects, not just music. Beethoven died in 1827 after several months of illness. Around 10,000 people lined Vienna’s streets to witness his funeral procession. The composer Frans Schubert, whose work was influenced by Beethoven’s, was one of his pallbearers, despite never having met him.

Address

400 West Cummings Park, Suite 5700
Woburn, MA
01801

Telephone

+16173145395

Website

http://hearingrehab.org/

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