A new campaign to help parents of 8- to 12-year-olds teach their children how to avoid hearing loss from overexposure to loud noise was launched October 2 by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), part of the National Institutes of Health.

The new campaign, called "It’s a Noisy Planet," features a new Web site that offers advice to parents on the causes and prevention of noise-induced hearing loss, how to recognize when a child’s hearing is at risk, and ways to reduce noise exposure.

The site contains games, posters, and interactive information about noise and hearing loss tailored specifically for tweens. The site can be found at http://noisyplanet.nidcd.nih.gov.

NIDCD supports and conducts research and research training on the normal and disordered processes of hearing, balance, smell, taste, voice, speech and language and provides health information, based upon scientific discovery, to the public. For more information about NIDCD programs, see the Web site at www.nidcd.nih.gov.

SOURCE: NIDCD