It’s our biggest appeal yet – but we know our caring and generous readers are up to the task!

So today we’re asking YOU to help us to raise £1.5 million to bring the world of sound to thousands of people afflicted by acute hearing problems.

Many of those affected are children and newborn babies who are being robbed of one of their vital senses.

Bradford is at the heart of a cutting-edge revolution restoring the sensation to even those who are profoundly deaf.

Thousands could benefit from the district’s pioneering work but your help is needed to achieve the dream.

And that is why today we launch the Telegraph & Argus Listening for Life Appeal to help make the vision a reality and improve the quality of life for those suffering from profound deafness by creating a £2.5 million cochlear implant centre in the grounds of Bradford Royal Infirmary.

A huge effort has already been made and around £1 million already secured. Now the Ear Trust, which is co-ordinating fund-raising efforts, is turning to the generosity of T&A readers to help make the final push.

It’s a big effort that’s needed, but T&A readers have proved themselves time and time again when it comes to helping bring huge advances in health to the district.

The T&A’s £1 million Millennium Scanner Appeal, which brought the city’s first MRI scanner to BRI; the £1m Bradford Can… Cancer Research Appeal, which helped fund vital research here in the city; the Linda Denbow Appeal, which helped kit out a ward for terminal cancer patients; and the Toy Library Appeal to provide vital facilities for children with special needs and disabilities, are all brilliant examples of magnificent efforts by readers that have improved and saved lives in Bradford and district.

The Listening for Life Centre will be the first dedicated centre in the UK for the carrying out of cochlear implant operations, which form the heart of the whole campaign.

Thanks to the dedication of a Bradford consultant, Chris Raine, the city has become one of the top places in the UK where such surgery can be carried out and give the gift of hearing to people who might otherwise go through their entire lives in a world of silence.

The tireless work of Chris evolved into the Yorkshire Cochlear Implant Service, which in turn grew to become a multi-disciplined organisation within the auspices of the hospital where not only the operations were carried out but also follow-up tests, education and therapy.

The campaign to create a dedicated centre will bring together the different strands of this rapidly-growing service into one smoothly-running, hi-tech facilitiy where those who have undergone hearing surgery at BRI - especially children - will learn to cope with their “new” sense, recover and receive therapy.

The Yorkshire Cochlear Implant Service and the Ear Trust have already made great strides in establishing Bradford as a centre of excellence for this particular type of healthcare; now what is needed is the specialist premises kitted out with the latest equipment - much of it not available from the NHS - to drive the service forward and help even more people. It will also become a training ground for specialists.

Not only will the centre help Bradford people, it will also bring in patients from across the country, boosting the district’s reputation as a first class provider of healthcare.

Listening for Life is such a high-profile campaign that Coun Robin Owens, the Lord Mayor of Bradford, has also made it one of his official charities for the mayoral year.

We want your money, of course, but also your time. Donations, no matter how small - or large! - can be sent to us at the T&A. But think laterally as well: are you organising a bonfire party this weekend, for instance? Why not ask for a pound donation from each guest, for the T&A’s Listening for Life Appeal?

Want to organise a Christmas fundraiser? Do it for Listening for Life. Running a marathon, parachuting out of a plane or sitting in a bath-full of beans? You know where to send your sponsorship money.

And if you’ve been helped by the centre already, or have your own experiences of deafness you’d like to share, then we would love to hear from you.

The gift of hearing is something that most of us will never really understand the importance of. But for those who do not have it – especially the many, many children and babies who benefit from the work being done in Bradford - it is truly a life-changing experience.

T&A readers have done it before, and now we’re asking you to do it again. With your help the dream of the Listening for Life Centre can become a reality… and the sound of thousands of “thank yous” will fill the air.

• To find out how you can help - click here