Page 18 - October 2010

Fig. 1. Zachary Lising reaches for his earplugs whenever he helps his dad mow the lawn or rides in an airplane.
to show them so they can see it with their own eyes.
Using hands-on activities that help parents and kids understand what sound is and how it can affect our hearing, NIDCD staff are delivering presentations at schools, camps, churches, health fairs, workplaces, and parenting organiza- tions. So far, they have spoken to middle schools in Maryland and Virginia, as well as churches in Washington, D.C. Noisy Planet is also a popular offering at the annual NIH Take Your Child to Work Day, which is attended by both tweens and
their parents.
“I was really amazed by the presentation, and what I
liked about it is that there are so many easy, practical tips that we can do,” said Mimi Lising, multicultural health educator at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, and mom to Zachary (8, Fig. 1) and Quinn (11, Fig. 2), who signed up for the Noisy Planet presentation at this year’s NIH event. “I learned a lot, and in fact, after the presentation, I was telling my husband, and he went out and bought some really good earplugs for all of us and we were able to use them the next time we went traveling. We’re just really cognizant now of loud noises and knowing now what we can do to prevent hearing loss or at least keep our hearing as intact as possible.”
Quinn and Zachary agree with their mom. They liked the demonstration that showed how a blow dryer, when placed up against a noise level meter, registered more than 100 decibels, a sound level that puts hearing at risk if listened to for too long a time. However when the meter was moved just a few steps away from the dryer, the sound level dropped to 80 decibels or lower, which is a safe noise level. Zachary was also impressed when he discovered that he and fellow tween-aged participants could hear an annoying, high- pitched tone but most of the adults in the room couldn’t, because their hair cells had become damaged over the years. In fact, months later, he talked about the things he learned for a presentation in front of friends at summer camp. “They said that was really cool,” he reported.
Health Education teacher LaKisha Liggins, who instructs 7th and 8th graders at Walker Mill Middle School, in Capitol Heights, Md., said that she would happily welcome the Noisy Planet presentation back to her classroom.
“That was the best presentation I’ve seen, and I’ve been teaching for seven years so far,” she said. “It’s very interactive and interesting information—something new that the kids never knew before. They really liked it.”
Not only did her students enjoy learning about why it’s important to play their MP3 players more softly, but the Noisy Planet message struck a chord with her as well. “After the presentation, I went out and bought a pair of earplugs and wore them to a party where the music was super loud,” she said. “It automatically made me think about the presenta- tion,” she said.
What’s next for Noisy Planet
The Noisy Planet campaign continues to extend its out- reach by forging new partnerships, by adding new interactive features to its website, and by exploring new ways to bring the message directly to tweens and their parents.
At the invitation of the Acoustical Society of America, NIDCD staff members delivered a presentation about the Noisy Planet campaign to members of the education com- mittee during the Joint 159th ASA Meeting and Noise-Con 2010, in Baltimore, last April. They also distributed materials during the hands-on acoustic demonstrations with area Girl Scouts. This November, Noisy Planet materials in English and Spanish are being disseminated at the 2nd Pan- American/Iberian Meeting on Acoustics, in Cancun, Mexico.
The Noisy Planet campaign is also beginning a collabo- ration with Dangerous Decibels, a public health campaign designed to reduce the incidence and prevalence of NIHL
Fig. 2. Quinn Lising keeps the volume down on her earbuds so she can listen to them for life.
It’s a Noisy Planet 17