During its 1979 session, the General Assembly passed Senate Joint Resolution No. 172 creating this study.

To carry out the study, the State Health Commissioner appointed the following Committee members: Willard R. Ferguson, M.D., Director, Bureau of Crippled Children; Frank M. Butts, M.Ed., Director of Audiology and Speech Pathology, Medical College of Virginia; S. James Cutler, representing the Virginia Council for the Deaf; Thomas M. Deadmore, Purchase Manager, Department of Purchase and Supply; Pat T. Dewey, M.Ed., Speech and Hearing Services Administrator, Bureau of Crippled Children; William Gates, representing the Association of Hearing Aid Dealers; K. Michael Kines, Administrator of Facilities Services, Virginia Medical Assistance Program; Jose A. Lafitte, Ed.D., State Coordinator, Hearing Impaired Program, Department of Rehabilitative Services; Pam R. Lathrop, State Planner I Office on Aging; Stephen R. Thomas representing the Lions Club.

This is the Department of Health's final report to study the possibility of establishing a program to sell or rent hearing aids to the poor. The Committee's first order of business was to gather statistics to determine the extent of the problem and volume which would be involved and the criteria to use in defining the term poor.