Photo credit: Center for Hearing and Communication
by David M. Sykes, Vice Chair, The Quiet Coalition
Wednesday, April 25th marks the 23rd annual celebration of International Noise Awareness Day, an event born in the U.S. that has grown into an international occasion.
Congratulations to the event’s founder, Nancy Nadler, for her pioneering work and to other Americans who have long contributed to and supported it, including The Quiet Coalition founding member, Arline Bronzaft PhD.
Commenting on the history and significance of International Noise Awareness Day, Dr. Bronzaft said:
In 1992, I worked with Nancy Nadler, now the Deputy Executive Director of Center for Hearing and Communication (CHC), when she created the Noise Center and four years later I was part of the CHC group who introduced International Noise Awareness Day (INAD) worldwide. In New York City, INAD was recognized with a Mayoral Proclamation at City Hall, poster contests in schools speaking to the dangers of noise, vans provided by CHC to assess hearing of New Yorkers and panel discussions on noise throughout the city. One year, the Borough President of Brooklyn feted the children of the winning Noise Poster Contest, as well as their parents, at a Borough Hall reception.
In the U.S., International Noise Awareness Day precedes the month long celebration of May as Better Hearing and Speech Month led by the National Institute of Deafness and Communication Disorders, the American Speech Language Hearing Association, and other scientific, professional, and governmental organizations.
TQC’s founders hope that professionals in public health and hearing health will join with researchers and citizens representing the 48 million Americans who suffer from hearing disorders to mark both International Noise Awareness Day and Better Hearing and Speech Month.
