Volume 8 Issue 3 (pdf) - Andrew John Publishing Inc
Volume 8 Issue 3 (pdf) - Andrew John Publishing Inc
Volume 8 Issue 3 (pdf) - Andrew John Publishing Inc
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By David Kirkwood<br />
ANAHEIM, CA–An international public<br />
art initiative, a “Three Wise Monkeys”<br />
campaign to encourage regular hearing<br />
health checks, and a pocket-sized<br />
electronic hearing testing device<br />
captured top honors in the Ida Institute’s<br />
competition, Ideas, Speak up – Action and<br />
Awareness for Hearing Loss. The winning<br />
entries were celebrated at a reception<br />
held here April 3 at the start of the<br />
American Academy of Audiology’s<br />
annual convention, AudiologyNOW!<br />
2013.<br />
The purpose of the international contest<br />
was to stimulate ideas with the potential<br />
to create public awareness of hearing<br />
loss, put hearing loss on the public<br />
agenda, and encourage people to take<br />
action to address hearing loss.<br />
The Ida Institute, a Danish-based<br />
independent non-profit foundation<br />
funded by the Oticon Foundation,<br />
launched the ideas competition at<br />
AudiologyNOW! 2012 held in Boston.<br />
Over the following months it generated<br />
more than 400 submissions from all<br />
over the world.<br />
three top priZes<br />
From these, first prizes were awarded in<br />
three categories. The winning entry in<br />
the Public Awareness Campaign<br />
category was submitted by Curtis Alcott,<br />
from the United Kingdom. Entitled<br />
“Three Monkeys: Eyes Checked. Teeth<br />
Checked. Hearing Checked,” his idea<br />
was to link a simple message to the<br />
iconic three wise monkeys (“See no evil,<br />
hear no evil, speak no evil”) to raise<br />
awareness of regular hearing health<br />
checks. The monkeys encourage making<br />
hearing checks part of a health routine<br />
that also includes getting one’s eyes and<br />
teeth checked on a regular basis. The<br />
three monkeys image can be used in<br />
many media, including print and<br />
broadcast advertising, web sites,<br />
billboards, bus posters, and cinema<br />
trailers.<br />
Khalid Islam of Bangladesh invented the<br />
winning idea in the Best Event category.<br />
He devised “Look Who’s Hearing,” an<br />
international public art initiative that<br />
would involve “fitting” hearing aids on<br />
statues in major cities around the world.<br />
The artist-designed hearing aids could<br />
be mounted as sculptures and then<br />
auctioned off to support hearing health<br />
charities. An Internet campaign would<br />
enable people to follow this initiative,<br />
track the next statue, and spread<br />
awareness.<br />
In the Best Gadget category, Kasper<br />
Rubin, a Dane, won the blue ribbon for<br />
his Hearing Tone Test Card, an<br />
inexpensive electronic card that would<br />
serve as a practical hearing checker. The<br />
pocket-sized card uses simple electronic<br />
technology like that used in singing<br />
greeting cards. However, instead of<br />
making music, the technology is used to<br />
test hearing.<br />
At the reception in Anaheim where the<br />
contest winners were announced, Niels<br />
Boserup, chairman of the Oticon<br />
Foundation, said, “We recognize that to<br />
continue the good work of this project<br />
and to achieve increased public<br />
awareness of hearing loss worldwide will<br />
require a strategic, dedicated initiative.”<br />
He added that the Oticon Foundation<br />
“will investigate ways to develop and<br />
implement the worthy ideas.”<br />
Lise Lotte Bundesen, managing director<br />
of the Ida Institute, said, “The Ideas<br />
Campaign sparked the creativity and<br />
passion of people around the world.”<br />
ideas Worth hearing<br />
The prize-winning ideas were selected<br />
by a panel of judges including Brenda<br />
Battat, executive director of the Hearing<br />
Loss Association of America; Tom Healy,<br />
a writer, poet and chairman of the<br />
Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board;<br />
Bob Isherwood, former worldwide<br />
creative director of Saatchi & Saatchi,<br />
the Ideas Agency; Sergei Kochkin, PhD,<br />
former executive director of the Better<br />
Hearing Institute; and Helle Østergaard,<br />
executive director of the Crown Princess<br />
Mary Foundation.<br />
These and some of the other best ideas<br />
submitted can be viewed online at Ideas<br />
Worth Hearing. The Ideas Catalog is<br />
designed to inspire and to help people<br />
around the world take action and start<br />
raising awareness of hearing loss in their<br />
communities.<br />
http://hearinghealthmatters.org/hearin<br />
gnewswatch/2013/three-best-ideas-toraise-awareness-of-hearing-loss-are-ho<br />
nored-at-aaa-convention/<br />
By Robert Traynor<br />
Most audiologists realize that noiseinduced<br />
hearing loss (NIHL) refers to a<br />
gradual, cumulative and preventable<br />
decline in auditory function that follows<br />
repeated exposure to loud noise. It is, of<br />
course, the leading cause of preventable<br />
hearing loss. It is also estimated that<br />
10% (30 million) of Americans are<br />
encountering hazardous levels of noise,<br />
that 25% of those working in the<br />
construction, mining, agriculture,<br />
REVUE CANADIENNE D’AUDITION | CANADIAN HEARING REPORT 11