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Health Sciences, and representatives of national organiza- tions and advocacy groups. Months later, the WISE EARS! educational program was launched, which featured a bright- ly colored owl as its icon and which taught about safe listen- ing practices.
The goals for WISE EARS! were to educate all audiences, including workers, employers, health professionals, teachers, parents, children, unions, industry, state and local govern- ment workers, and the general public, about NIHL and to motivate them to learn more about hearing health and hear- ing protection. A variety of educational materials was pro- duced and more than 90 partners signed on to help encour- age people to practice safe strategies to protect their hearing from noises that are too loud, too close, or that last too long. The message, then as now, was very simple: if you are exposed to loud noise, you can protect your hearing by turn- ing down the sound, wearing earplugs, or walking away.
In 2006, the NIDCD conducted an evaluation of the WISE EARS! program to determine its overall effectiveness and future role in increasing public awareness of NIHL. After researching existing educational programs, resources, and media coverage on NIHL as well as interviewing former WISE EARS! partners, the NIDCD began to fashion a new campaign that focused on a smaller demographic group and that made better strategic use of its partnerships. What’s
more, by targeting tweens, campaign organizers saw that they could help provide an enduring message that fills a gap between other national NIHL awareness programs that tar- get either very young children or teens. It also brings parents into the fold as teachers and role models. Focus group test- ing with tweens and their parents, both in English and Spanish, along with a message development workshop with health communication professionals and researchers led to the creation of a campaign that seemed to overwhelmingly resonate with both kids and parents, It’s a Noisy Planet. Protect Their Hearing.
Element #1: An out-of-this-world website
The centerpiece of the campaign is the Noisy Planet web- site, at www.noisyplanet.nidcd.nih.gov, which was designed to offer a fun, interactive way for parents to explain to their tweens why protecting their hearing is so important. The Noisy Planet website provides educational information for tweens, parents, campaign partners, community members, and the press and is continually updated with new activities, featured guests, noises in the news, and other information. A Noisy Planet e-bulletin provides news updates about partner activities regularly to anyone who subscribes. Also, educa- tional materials in the form of fact sheets and parent tips can be ordered online.
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