Each year 3 March marks World Hearing Day, encouraging people to take action and protect their hearing.
To hear for life, listen with care
For 2022, the World Health Organisation (WHO) have set the World Hearing Day theme as ‘to hear for life, listen with care’. This slogan represents the importance of actively controlling the noise levels that you expose yourself to, in order to prevent hearing loss. The key message behind this is that common causes of hearing loss can be avoided, and it’s possible to have good hearing throughout your lifetime if you take the right precautions.
During World Hearing Day, the WHO are providing information on how best to protect your hearing in their SafeListening handbook by setting out a safe listening standard in the hope that governments, industry partners and entertainment venue managers will take this on board and get involved in creating evidence-based standards to promote safe listening. WHO will be spreading the word in many different formats: brochures, flyers, posters, banners, infographics and presentations. You can read these resources and take their advice on board in your day-to-day life.
Get involved by interacting on social media platforms this World Hearing Day by using the hashtags #safelistening #worldhearingday #hearingcare to help raise awareness about how to protect your hearing through listening safely.
Safe listening
Brentwood Hearing Centre gives six key tips for listening safely:
- Wear earplugs or earmuffs – wear these when going to a loud event, like a concert.
- Choose headphones over earbuds – headphones allow you to listen to your music at a lower volume than earplugs do, because they are more effective in cancelling out background noise.
- Limit the volume on your devices – The maximum volume on most devices goes far beyond the number of decibels you can listen to safely, so try not to listen to your devices on full volume.
- Use the 60/60 rule – Try to limit the volume on your device to 60% of its full capacity and don’t use it for more than 60 minutes at a time.
- Turn down the TV/ radio – listening in confined spaces, like in a car or a room, amplify sound. Ask yourself if you really need the TV or radio on as loud and try turning it down on a regular basis.
- Go on a noise detox – it has been shown in research that exposure to noise above 100 decibels for 2 hours would require 16 hours to recover the damage to your hearing, so make sure you take breaks from loud noises and rest your ears.
Following these steps and actively look after your hearing can help to maintain healthy hearing for longer.
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