Safe Listening Campaign Sparks Teen Interest
Editor: It should be no surprise to anyone that music listening habits
over the past few decades have damaged the hearing of millions of folks.
But it may be a surprise that today's teens seem to be interested in
preventing hearing loss due to their listening habits.
Here's a press release from the House Ear Institute with information on
their by It's How You Listen That Counts(tm) program
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Thousands of teens and young adults, who've helped make video games,
cell-phones, MP3 players, and other audio devices wildly popular, have
responded positively to hearing conservation messages delivered by It's
How You Listen That Counts(tm), an initiative from House Ear Institute.
Launched in 2006 through the Institute's Sound Partners(tm) program to
promote smart listening habits, the initiative's educational video spot
that ran on MTV inspired thousands of teens to log onto the www.earbud.org
Web site to download more information about protecting their hearing.
Answers to survey questions and quizzes posted on the site by the
program's icon Ear Bud indicate a growing concern about noise-induced
hearing loss and safe listening habits among teens. An earlier test market
phase of the initiative led to a 30% improvement among teens and young
adult consumers in understanding the importance of preventing noise-damage
and what they can do about it. While the majority of respondents favor
high-quality sound and total immersion in their music or video games, they
wish to avoid the risk of permanent noise-induced hearing loss.
The Institute recently conducted an online survey of preferences to
help limit exposure to damaging decibel levels when using audio devices.
The most popular choice on the wish list was finding audio electronics
that feature built-in sound level alerts to help warn users when volumes
reach levels that are potentially dangerous to hearing.
The House Ear Institute's smart listening message reached 19 million
young people nationwide during the fourth quarter of 2007 via hearing
health outreach on social networking Web sites, game and blog sites, and
other online venues popular with teens. Teen comments to blog entries and
online articles reveal a growing awareness among young adults of the
potential risk of noise exposure from concerts, video games and audio
equipment. As electronic gadgets and music players become increasingly
popular, House Ear Institute encourages electronics manufacturers to join
its efforts as advocates in encouraging safe sound usage among their audio
product consumers to prevent hearing loss. For example manufacturers such
as Creative Labs, Sennheiser, and Etymotic Research as well as consumer
associations, such as the Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA), are
all actively partnering with House Ear Institute to promote hearing
safety.
"As a world-renowned non-profit hearing science research institution,
House Ear Institute is committed to prevention of hearing loss," says
Marilee Potthoff, marketing director, House Ear Institute. "We need to
convey to young audio consumers that great sound is only appreciated with
great hearing. It is all about how you listen that counts. Limiting
exposure time to loud volume levels exceeding 85 decibels, and knowing
what that means, is the bottom line to avoiding permanent noise-based
hearing loss. It is very encouraging that our message strategy, which
encourages people to enjoy great sound safely, is being embraced by teens
and young adults."
