Winner Selected in the Big Messages Competition

By Amanda Farah Cox

The Ida Institute is pleased to announce the winner of our Big Messages competition. Jim Wilson created the winning video at our booth at the AudiologyNow! Conference last month. Jim’s video was chosen because of all of the positive connotations about hearing that it emphasizes. Jim’s video, which is ironically silent, is personable in the details he shares about the joy in hearing sounds such as his hound dog and a vintage motorcycle.

“For me, this is right in my wheelhouse,” says Jim via email. “I made a quick trip down to the UPS store to buy a yellow note pad and a Sharpie. I scribbled some ideas together and you now have the result.”

Jim is the General Partner of the Wilson Group, a marketing agency serving the hearing industry located in Fort Worth, Texas. He began working with audiology in 1982 through a client called Jones Audiology. The Wilson group is now publishes the Consumer’s Guide to Hearing Aids. Although not new to audiology or AAA, Jim was new to the Ida Institute.

“I come to AudiologyNow! each year to attend the poster sessions. Audiology students rock!” he says. “Poster sessions are where the gold is buried — big ideas are born here. I usually spend very little time in the exhibits, but this year the Ida Institute exhibit caught my interest. I connected with Managing Director Lise Lotte who explained the vision of Ida Institute, and I totally ‘got it.’ I compare it to Linux, the free and open-source software development platform that has created a culture of sharing. It seems to me Ida Institute is a type of creative cooperative stimulating vision, design and action among audiologists.”

Jim’s video was informed not only by his work with audiology over the course of nearly 35 years, but also his personal experiences.

“I am 59 and I can finally relate to problems hearing,” says Jim. “I totally get it now, whereas when I was in my 30s and 40s I wrongly pictured hearing problems as the absence of sound. My inspiration was to take a look at who I am now from a tree-top view — what are the things that turn me on and bring me happiness that I would lose if I lost my hearing acuity. Dolly is my Basset-Beagle mix who has three tones to her bugle depending on the type varmint she is tracking. We live on a Christmas tree farm and it makes me laugh every time I hear her. My Triumph is a Speed Triple that makes a very distinctive note when it winds up. I love that sound — through my earplugs of course — I can tell all is mechanically right. Also I am a really relational guy, (I have a wife and three daughters) so communication is dear to me.”

Thank you to everyone who came by the Ida booth at AAA, and especially to those who shared their personal messages about why sound and hearing are important.

To see Jim’s winning video, as well as the other submission, please visit the Big Messages website.