The Dangerous Decibels project is a public health campaign designed to reduce the incidence and prevalence of Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) and tinnitus (ringing in the ear) by changing knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of school-aged children.
The project is built upon an innovative collaboration between basic science researchers, clinicians, museum educators, health communication experts, civic leaders, teachers, public health professionals, and volunteers in a unique public/private partnership. Current partners are the Oregon Hearing Research Center at the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) and Portland State University (Department of Health Communications), and University of Northern Colorado.
Dangerous Decibels has three free-standing, but interlocking, components:
All Dangerous Decibels components address at least one of the following questions:
- What are the sources of dangerous sounds?
- What are the consequences of exposure to dangerous sounds?
- How do I protect myself from dangerous sounds?