William and Tani Austin, founders of the Starkey Hearing Foundation, will receive the Service to America Leadership Award for their dedication to providing free hearing aids to thousands of children and adults around the world.

Considered the NAB Education Foundation's highest honor, the Service to America Leadership Award recognizes those individuals and organizations that have improved lives of others through extraordinary public service. The award will be presented during the Celebration of Service to America gala held Monday, June 14, at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill. Now in its 12th year, the Celebration of Service to America Awards recognizes outstanding community service by local broadcasters.

"The Starkey Hearing Foundation has enriched the lives of people across the globe, providing more than 442,000 hearing aids to those in need in the past decade alone," said NABEF President Marcellus Alexander. "We salute the dedication and perseverance of the Austins and their Foundation staff, and look forward to honoring them for their outstanding public service efforts during this year's Celebration of Service to America Awards."

The Starkey Hearing Foundation was established in 1984 under William Austin's "So the World May Hear" concept. Through the work of donors and volunteers, William and Tani Austin have delivered more than 100,000 hearing aids annually to countries spanning the globe. The success of the foundation in the past decade has launched a commitment within the organization to distribute more than one million free hearing aids worldwide in this decade.

In addition to providing hearing aids through worldwide hearing missions, the foundation promotes the research and education of hearing health through their Sound Matters initiative. For additional information, or to learn how to make a donation to the Starkey Hearing Foundation, click here.

As previously announced, the Celebration of Service to America Awards will honor Haiti's Signal FM radio for their outstanding service to the Haitian community during the aftermath of the recent earthquake disaster. The Celebration of Service to America Awards will also recognize local radio and television stations for their commitment to serving their communities. To view this year's list of station winners, click here.

Details about the Celebration of Service to America Awards are available at www.nabef.org/ServicetoAmerica.