Page 17 - October 2010

“I practice as an ear nurse specialist,” said one Web visi- tor. “I think it is very good teaching material I could use in my practice.” Another visitor said “Thanks for your website. It is very informative and easy to navigate. I have printed sev- eral pages for our church.”
Since the campaign began, the NIDCD has experienced substantial leaps in the numbers of materials that have been disseminated, from roughly 5000 publications during the ini- tial three months of the campaign, to nearly 91,000 for 2009 and more than 127,000 materials from January through August 2010. In addition, more than 1,000 people have sub- scribed to the Noisy Planet e-bulletin. Finally, activity on the Noisy Planet website has tallied nearly 320,000 user sessions and more than 58,000 file downloads of fact sheets, tip sheets, and other materials. In addition, the website and materials have earned several awards, including the 2009 Media Award from the National Hearing Conservation Association, a 2009 Silver W3 award in the Family/Parenting category, a 2009 Blue Pencil Award from the National Association of Government Communicators, and a 2009 Plain Language Award, Gold category, from the National Institutes of Health.
Of course, the Noisy Planet campaign recognizes that sometimes, speaking face to face is the best way to publicize an important health message, and for this reason, a Noisy Planet exhibit has been developed for participating at confer- ences sponsored by organizations that represent profession- als who work with tweens. So far, the Noisy Planet campaign has participated in conferences sponsored by the National Association of School Nurses, the National Afterschool Association, the Association of Elementary School Principals, and the National Association of 4-H Extension Agents.
Element #2: Making the message go farther through Noisy Planet partners
Another important element of the Noisy Planet cam- paign is its partnerships. Noisy Planet partners have played a significant role in finding new ways to publicize the Noisy Planet message and distribute materials to a greater number of audiences. Partners also provide credibility with their con- stituency groups and help ensure a consistent message is con- veyed between groups. In addition, partners can help make resources go farther with limited budgets and can help devel- op new materials targeted to certain demographic groups within a target audience.
So far, three national organizations are partnering with the Noisy Planet campaign to help get the message out, and several other organizations are also exploring the opportuni- ty to collaborate. Activities that are being sponsored by our partners include:
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
(ASHA)—The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s (ASHA’s) Listen To Your Buds campaign has sponsored numerous safe-listening concerts in schools and auditoriums around the country, in collaboration with the Noisy Planet campaign, Parents’ Choice Foundation, and the Consumer Electronics Association.
As part of May Is Better Hearing and Speech Month,
ASHA’s Listen To Your Buds campaign teamed up with Noisy Planet to bring the hearing protection message to elementary and middle schoolers in the Washington, D.C., metro region. Staff from the two organizations pooled their time and resources to reach out to kids from pre-kindergarten through the eighth grade. With ASHA sponsoring safe-listening con- certs for the younger students and NIDCD offering in-class presentations for the tweens, more than 2000 children received the hearing protection message in their schools.
“Because the need for public education about noise- induced hearing loss is so great, one organization can’t do it all,” said Joseph Cerquone, director of public relations for ASHA. “Working together means greater effectiveness. Alliances like the one between Listen To Your Buds and Noisy Planet are able to spread the word more widely, in more ways, and more often.”
In addition, NIDCD’s director, Dr. James F. Battey, Jr., has been interviewed about the Noisy Planet and Listen To Your Buds collaboration on ASHA’s podcast: http://podcast.asha.org/. You can learn more about the Listen to Your Buds concerts at http://www.listentoyourbuds.org/.
Deafness Research Foundation (DRF)—In May 2009, the Deafness Research Foundation (DRF) sent a direct mail piece to more than 43,000 constituents highlighting the Noisy Planet program, and publicized the program in DRF’s inau- gural e-newsletter, which was sent to roughly 1,400 sub- scribers. In addition, DRF’s Summer 2009 issue of Hearing Health magazine featured a cover story on the Noisy Planet campaign, which was distributed to roughly 31,000 recipi- ents. DRF has also printed a 1/4 page full-color public serv- ice announcement in every issue of Hearing Health magazine.
“DRF was thrilled to be one of the first partners of the ‘It’s a Noisy Planet’ campaign,” said Andrea Boidman, execu- tive director of the DRF. “We were looking into starting a campaign on noise-induced hearing loss ourselves, but by partnering with the NIDCD’s program, we were able to effec- tively communicate to our constituents about how to prevent NIHL in a way that was cost-effective for DRF. The materials are useful and fun, and since they are created by the NIDCD, we trust the information they contain.”
During this year’s May Is Better Hearing and Speech Month, DRF sponsored a drawing contest for kids, called “It’s a Noisy Planet. What are you doing to protect your hearing?” In addition, DRF has created a conference booth that high- lights the Noisy Planet program and has designed a page on its website dedicated to the Noisy Planet campaign, which can be found at: www.drf.org/NoisyPlanet.
4-H—4-H, which is part of the United States Department of Agriculture, reaches youth and adults in agri- cultural environments. 4-H is working with the Noisy Planet campaign to develop materials for a rural audience to dis- seminate through 4-H program’s extensive network of pro- fessional staff and volunteers, including 4-H youth members, parents, extension agents, and others.
Element #3: Exploring new orbits
Noise may be invisible, but one of the best ways to teach tweens and their parents about the harmful effects of noise is
16 Acoustics Today, October 2010