Almost 18 months ago the National Acoustic Laboratories (NAL) launched the Know Your Noise website (knowyournoise.nal.gov.au) with the support of the HEARing CRC’s HEARsmart, a new initiative which aims to bring about a cultural shift in how Australians think about their exposure to loud noise. Know Your Noise is aimed at young adults and was actively promoted across both traditional and social media platforms. During its first 16 months online more than 11,000 people have visited the site.
Of these, almost 6,000 individuals have completed the online hearing test and 2,500 used the ‘Noise Risk Calculator’. The site is now being monitored and regularly updated, and it will remain a key platform for future campaigns to help young people better understand the hearing loss risks associated with leisure noise.
Just over half our users are from Australia (58%), followed by the US (12%), Greece (4%), UK (4%), Taiwan (4%), Canada (2%), Germany (2%) and Lithuania (2%). Not surprisingly, we find that the number of visits to the site increases whenever it is featured in online articles or social media. For example, an article in Canadian Audiologist created new interest from Canadians, and local mentions on social media during Hearing Awareness Week in Australia also increased traffic to the site.
Just recently, NAL have included a short feedback survey on the site for users of the noise risk calculator – please visit the Know Your Noise website – we encourage you to get your young people to jump on board and take a look and tell us what they think via the survey!
