Westminster, CO - The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) has received the "Media Award" from the National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA) for its "It's a Noisy Planet, Protect Their Hearing" campaign and web site. This award recognizes the efforts of writers and/or producers of news features that serve to heighten public awareness of the hazards of noise.
"We commend the NIDCD and its Noisy Planet campaign for providing important educational resources," said Susan Griest, incoming NHCA president and chair of the awards task force. "By engaging children and young adolescents with interactive tools to learn more about preventing noise-induced hearing loss, they are now empowered to adopt healthy hearing habits throughout their lifetime."
The Noisy Planet campaign and its web site, www.noisyplanet.nidcd.nih.gov/, is designed to increase awareness among parents of children ages 8 to 12 ("tweens") about the causes and prevention of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). With this information, parents and other adults can encourage children to adopt healthy habits that will help them protect their hearing for life.
The Noisy Planet web site is a key feature of the campaign. The site offers free educational materials, such as facts about NIHL and tweens;interactive materials such as educational tools and games for tweens;tips for parents;media materials and downloads;and promotional items for classroom and outreach programs.
In the first year of the campaign, NIDCD disseminated more than 84,000 campaign items, with another 11,000 fact sheets and tip sheets downloaded from the Web site. In addition, more than 560 people subscribed to the Noisy Planet e-bulletin in the first year, with new subscribers signing up daily. And visitors to the Web site tallied more than 130,000 user sessions and nearly three-quarters of a million page views.
Melinda Moyer, Project Director, Information Clearinghouse and Jennifer Wenger, Lead Public Affairs Specialist, accepted the "Media Award" on behalf of the NIDCD at the NHCA's "Explore the World of Hearing Loss Prevention" conference in Orlando, Florida, on Saturday February 27, 2010.
About the National Hearing Conservation Association [NHCA]
The mission of the National Hearing Conservation Association is to prevent hearing loss due to noise and other environmental factors in all sectors of society. NHCA provides networking, resources and professional development opportunities to improve skills, practices and services for over 600 members. NHCA's membership includes audiologists, researchers, students, industrial hygienists, educators, professional service organizations, safety professionals, medical professionals, engineers, audio professionals and others who have dedicated their work to the advancement of hearing loss prevention. For more information about the National Hearing Conservation Association, visit us online at www.hearingconservation.org.
