Research

Research

HEARsmart is made up of a group of research audiologists, psychologists, musicians, engineers and hearing health experts with many years of practical experience in measuring sound, assessing noise exposure, and uncovering people’s attitudes and motivations towards sound and hearing health.

Our current research is focused on:

• Acoustic and in-venue assessment of filtered earplugs – see What Plug? released 2017;
• Investigating sound levels and hearing health at Melbourne live music venues (funded through the Deafness Foundation, Victoria). We presented an academic poster on our early findings at the 2016 Audiology Australia Conference;
• Study into the hearing health of sound engineers;
• Looking at audiologist’s professional practice with members of the music industry; and
• Ongoing analysis of the data from Sound Check Australia – a national noise and hearing survey undertaken as the 2012 ABC Citizen Science project. Over 8,000 people completed the survey and the vast information it’s delivering informs HEARsmart’s ongoing activities.

 

The HEARing CRC and its Members, particularly the National Acoustic Laboratories, have been talking about hearing loss and loud sound for the past decade. Previous research that led to the creation of HEARsmart is listed below. If you want to talk to us about any of the findings, just get in touch and we’d be delighted to share the details!

Papers

2017

• Caring for musicians’ ears: Insights from clinicians and manufacturers reveal need for evidence-based guidelines. International Journal of Audiology, McGinnity S, Beach EF, Mulder J and Cowan R (in press).
• Advancing Tinnitus Awareness Through Animation. Gilliver, M; Sewell, J; McGinnity, S; Beach, E.
• Tinnitus and leisure noise. International Journal of Audiology. Williams, W Carter, L.
• In their own words: Interviews with musicians reveal the advantages and disadvantages of wearing earplugs. Beach EF, O’Brien I.
• Personal listening devices in Australia: Patterns of use and levels of risk. Gilliver M, Nguyen J, Beach E and Barr C.

2016

• Hearing loss, earplug use and attitudes to hearing protection amongst non-orchestral ensemble musicians. O’Brien I, & Beach EF.
• Hearing protection devices: Use at work predicts use at play. Beach EF, Gilliver M, Williams W.
• Providing earplugs to young adults at risk encourages protective behaviour in music venues. Beach EF, Nielsen L, Gilliver M.
• Fitness instructors and noise exposure: Spreading the hearing health message. Nie V, Beach EF.

2015

• Australian HEARsmart targets unhealthy listening habits, Beach E, Sewell, J.
• New Australian initiative puts the spotlight on personal leisure noise risk, Beach E, Sewell, J.
• Changing beliefs about leisure noise: using health promotion models to investigate young people’s engagement with, and attitudes towards, hearing health. Gilliver M, Beach EF, Williams W.
• Instrumental Music Teachers: Music Exposure and Hearing Loss. Beach EF, Gilliver M. Australian Journal of Music Education, 1, 3-12.

2014

• A clinical trial of active hearing protection for orchestral musicians. O’Brien, Driscoll T, Williams W, Ackermann B.
• Noise levels in fitness classes are still too high: evidence from 1997-1998 and 2009-2011. Beach EF, Nie V.
• Noise exposure in the balance: Managing occupational and leisure risks to hearing health. Gilliver M, Williams, W, and Beach EF.  Journal of Health, Safety and Environment, 230(1):203-208.
• A snapshot of young adults’ noise exposure reveals evidence of ‘Binge Listening’. Beach EF, Gilliver M and Williams W.  Applied Acoustics, 77, 71-75.
• Clubbers’ Attitude Toward Earplugs: Better with Use. Nielsen LB, Beach EF, Gilliver M. The Hearing Journal, 67(4): 6-11.

2013

• Everyone likes it loud, don’t they? Beach, EF.
• Noise with attitude: influences on young people’s decisions to protect their hearing. Gilliver M, Beach EF, Williams W.
• Leisure noise exposure: participation trends, symptoms of hearing damage, and perception of risk. Beach EF, Gilliver M, Williams W.
• The leisure-noise dilemma: hearing loss or hearsay? What does the literature tell us? Carter L, Williams W, Black D, Bundy A.
• Hearing threshold levels for a population of 11 to 35 year old Australian females and males. Williams W, Carter L, Seeto M.
• Estimating young Australian adults’ risk of hearing damage from selected leisure activities. Beach E, Williams W, Gilliver M. 

2012

• The objective-subjective assessment of noise: young adults can estimate loudness of events and lifestyle noise. Beach EF, Williams W, Gilliver M.
• A qualitative study of earplug use as a health behavior: the role of noise injury symptoms, self-efficacy and an affinity for music. Beach EF, Williams W, Gilliver M.

2011

• Music to whose ears? The effect of social norms on young people’s risk perceptions of hearing damage resulting from their music listening behavior. Gilliver M, Carter L, Macoun D, Rosen J, Williams W.

2010

• Hearing protection for clubbers is music to their ears. Beach E, Williams W, Gilliver M.
• Clubbing: the cumulative effect of noise exposure from attendance at dance clubs and night clubs on whole-of-life noise exposure. Williams W, Beach EF, Gilliver M.

Publications

• 2011: iHEAR report for the Department of Health by the National Acoustic Laboratories (Australian Hearing’s research arm) on the prevalence of hearing loss and its relationship to leisure-sound exposure;
• 2010: Binge Listening is another report from the National Acoustic Laboratories reporting the significant impact of common leisure activities on the hearing of young Australians, including going to nightclubs, pubs and live concerts;
• 2008: Is Australia Listening? a report from Australian Hearing found personal stereo use and listening volume to be a major concern for Australia’s hearing health; and
• 2006: Listen HEAR! commissioned by the HEARing CRC and Vic Deaf, authored by Access Economics, that identified excessive loud noise exposure as a major cause of hearing loss in Australia.