The Silent Leadership Challenge - raising money for innovative technologies

The CEO of the National Foundation for the Deaf, Louise Caroll, has posed a challenge to all CEOs to raise funds for innovative technologies.

Caroll's behind The National Foundation for the Deaf Silent Leadership Challenge – an event which is held annually.

"We're asking corporate and community leaders to experience what it's like to have a hearing loss, for just an hour on Friday 5 August, 2016," says Caroll.

Caroll says she vividly recalls the day she switched on her hearing aids with a remote microphone.

"I could hear my granddaughter's voice and was surprised and saddened that I hadn't been hearing her actual full voice with its delightful timbres for all these years," adds Caroll.

The purpose of the challenge is to raise nationwide awareness and funds for the foundations work, which aims to prevent hearing loss and support people with hearing loss of deafness.

"By undertaking the challenge, corporate and community leaders will help us to break the silence around it. From this, we hope that they will gain insights into preventing hearing loss and making the workplace more supportive for employees who are hard- of-hearing. They will lead the social change that people with hearing loss in New Zealand so desperately need.

The event will see participants tackle three communication challenges at work and one at home while wearing bright yellow hearing protectors to simulate deafness.

To take part, leaders register online and aim to raise funds by seeking sponsorship donations from people in their professional and social networks.

The money raised will directly support the Foundation's advocacy, support and prevention work.