World Hearing Day on 3 March is an annual global advocacy event for raising awareness regarding hearing loss and promoting ear and hearing care, and calling for action to address hearing loss and related issues. March is also Hearing awareness month.
The theme this year is 'Changing mindsets: Let’s make ear and hearing care a reality for all!'.
Hearing loss has often been referred to as an “invisible disability”, not just because of the lack of visible symptoms, but because it has long been stigmatized in communities and ignored by policy-makers.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General
Our hearing is so vital for us to talk to each other, enjoy TV and music and do everything we need in our daily lives. But did you know that one in every 5 of us may have communication difficulties from hearing loss? That’s so many of us!
For more information: www.who.int/campaigns/world-hearing-day/2024.
Below are a list of organisations in Aotearoa that are raising awareness of World hearing day/Hearing awareness month.
- Hearing New Zealand is working hard to raise awareness and advocate for more resource or hearing care. Upcoming events include awareness event on 3 March, Hearing awareness week educational seminars in Nelson on 8 March (admin@heainghelson.co.nz) and advocacy campaign as part of accessibility bill: www.change.org/p/petition-for-drafting-a-new-accessibility-for-new-zealanders-bill.
- New Zealand Audiological Society are working on changing the mindset in public and those affected by hearing impairments by producing some TikTok videos.
- Eisdell Moore Centre in collaboration with Audiology and Vestibular Translational Neuroscience Cluster (@AVTNC1) and the University of Auckland Master of Audiology Student Association (@masa_uoa), there will be a poster presentation and competitions about hearing healthcare to change the mind-set in the student and future health care professionals. Where & When: at the University of Auckland, Grafton Campus (85 Park Road, Auckland) on Monday 4 March 10am–1pm.
- Eisdell Moore Centre will also be trying to change the mindset of youth by running “Be Innovative in Hearing Care Challenge” competition for students to Where & when: Online 3–31 March.
- Hearing House the home for the northern cochlear implant programme and family support, is planning some activities for families and children as well as social media posts and publications.
- Pindrop Foundation will be driving the cochlear implants advocacy discussion and awareness conversations recycling around changing mindsets! Checkout their website for amazing discussion and events coming up.
- National Foundation for Deaf and Hard of Hearing will have many events and resources for the public. Follow them though their website and social media posts!
- The Audiology programme at the University of Canterbury will be raising awareness an showcasing the latest in hearing care provided by audiologists.
Related content
Use the Science Learning Hub resources to discover more:
- Human hearing – focusing on the function of the ear structure.
- Hearing sound – find out about the three components required for sound to be heard.
- Helping you to hear better – technologies helping people with hearing loss
- Sounds of Aotearoa – use this recorded webinar to explore simple, practical and fun ideas for engaging students in the science of sound.
Browse the wide range of resources under our sound topic for even more.
We’ve made a partial replication of Building Science Concepts Book 18 Exploring Sound: Using Sound-makers and Musical Instruments. This article and interactive explore the big ideas and science concepts for Physical World levels 1 and 2.
Sound – lower primary is a collection of resources and notes for educators. You are welcome to copy the collection to your own profile, where you can edit and curate additional resources. The article Creating collections tells you how to get the most out of a collection.
Activity ideas
We have lots of activities covering sound and hearing, below are a few to explore these topics further with:
- Sound detectives – students take part in a class experiment to locate sounds when blindfolded.
- Modelling waves with slinkies – students model how sound travels by sending waves along two stretched plastic slinkies tied together.
- Investigating sound – simple exploratory activities and questions to experience and build an understanding of sound.
- Hearing sounds – using whispers and vibrations to hear and experience how sound moves.
- Musical sounds – experience how striking, blowing, plucking and scraping create sounds and how these sounds can come together to make music.
- Investigating movement and sound with a pūrerehua – create and use a Māori musical instrument.
Useful links
Find out about the work of the Eisdell Moore Centre – its mission is to reduce the impact of hearing and balance disabilities. They also provide a range of resources for the public including some te reo Māori resources.
If you want to know more about the team of scientists who made these materials, follow them on Facebook or Twitter.
Hearing New Zealand | Te Kahui Rongo o Aotearoa works to improve the lives of the 880,000+ people in New Zealand living with hearing loss.
