Photo by Nicholas Santasier from Pexels
by Jeanine Botta, Co-founder, The Quiet Coalition
In 1996, the League for the Hard of Hearing, now the Center for Hearing and Communication, established the first Noise Awareness Day in New York City. Eventually Noise Awareness Day became International Noise Awareness Day, a day to raise global awareness about the effects of environmental noise on human health and well-being. Today that concern extends to the harms of human generated noise on wildlife.
This year, the 24th INAD will be observed around the world on April 24th. Members and friends of The Quiet Coalition will participate in multiple events that day. One of these is Noise, Quietness, and the Healthy City, a day-long workshop at New York University featuring speakers, discussions, hearing screenings, and a sound walk. Registration is required, and you can register for each event or the entire day.
On April 20th, two members of The Quiet Coalition will lead an interactive program in observance of INAD at the Clarendon Library in East Flatbush, Brooklyn to introduce mobile phone apps as a means of contributing to “citizen science” – a way to empower people to address community noise, and to identify and preserve quiet places. Click here for to download the flyer.
And also on April 24th, volunteers from the Acoustical Society of America will hold a Science of Sound educational program at the Bedford Library in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Registration is not required, but is recommended. Click here for more information about this program.
Learn more about INAD events worldwide at the Center for Hearing and Communication and the Acoustical Society. More comprehensive historical information about INAD can be found in this Acoustics Today article.
Jeanine Botta serves on the Board of Directors of the Right to Quiet Society for Soundscape Awareness and Protection. She also serves on the International Noise Awareness Day committee of the Technical Committee on Noise within the Acoustical Society of America. Jeanine has worked as a patient educator since 2008, and has a background in public health research administration. She also maintains the Green Car Integrity blog, a meditation on cars, tech, and noise.
