Need Ideas for a Campaign Raising Awareness for Tinnitus and Hearing Loss

[Enrique]

Hi guys,

I am a Public Health major and need to start a campaign. I was thinking I would do hearing loss and tinnitus awareness since young adults and teens are experiencing an increase in hearing loss and tinnitus. I would like to raise awareness to people especially those in the college age group. I plan on using social media as well as pamphlets and accessories that provide a link to a page with information. Any ideas on how I can effectively convince them this is as serious as we all know it is. I have to present and sell the idea to my classmates and they will chose the top 3 presentations. I want to do well so that I am able to implement my campaign with the support of my school outside of campus. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

Enrique

 

[cullenbohannon]

Hey Enrique this is a great idea. I'll try to think of some stuff that might be helpful. Goodluck.

 

[Enrique]

Thanks Cullen

 

[grimesaion]

Well, as we know numerous things causes tinnitus. If you are planning on talking to teens and those at college it would be wise to make your presentations appearance look as serious as they can be my grandad hanged himself due to tinnitus and all our family have it. Clear images you can find, pictures always give a message and just be assertive.

 

[Enrique]

@grimesaion I'm truly sorry to hear about your grandad and your family. It didn't really cross my mind to talk about tinnitus and suicide but this would be a great tactic to use in order to emphasize the seriousness of the situation. Thank you.

 

[cullenbohannon]

@Enrique I think you definitely have to try and stress how serious T is. I dont know what resources you have to raise T awareness but maybe start with something where people with T tell their stories and how it affected them, obviously some people committed sucicide some become so crippled they lose friends, jobs, and almost become zombies. Toward the end or after getting their attention with how serious it is you tell them what it is that can cause so much heart ache and trouble. Then what ever statistics and facts about it you have how common it is , and how it can easily be prevented. I think if you start out and tell them what it is , people might not take it very serious since its just ringing in the ears.

Good stuff bro, glad to see members being active and trying to promote T awareness.

 

[Marlene]

I believe if they heard the sounds we all do ,it can have a lasting affect ,knowing they have this going on in their ears and head all day every day ,that there's no escape from it .Yes I agree have people young and older with their stories ,how long they've had it ,what disruption it's caused to their daily lives 24/7 .
I think your doing a good thing Enrique ,educate as many as you can .
A portable radio with static would give it off ,or maybe someone on site will come up with a better method to getting these noises across. We can't see it ,but we can sure hear it
I think your doing a great thing ,Wishing you ever bit of luck .

 

[Grace]

Everyone else said some perfect ideas and points so dont have much to add... But if it were me doing the presentation.. The whole time your up there presenting, i would have a list of tinnitus tracks playing the whole time like nonstop dont turn it offf until your done talking. Ofcorse beforehand you could say something like i apologize for the sounds your all about to hear but for some people this noise is 24/7 not just for the 15-20 mintues that you all are about to experience it. Ofcorse dont blast it loud cause we dont wanna hurt anyones ears or yours but just enough that they can hear you talking over it. You can say this noise your hearing can get louder and louder obviously all the facts bout T. You could also choose the noise thats closest to your T and play that nonstop and say something like for the 20 minutes im standing up here, i want you to all experience the non stop noise i endure 24/7, but the different between you and me is that when i turn this off you will all have silence, but the sound goes on for me in my head continously. I think that would all get them thinkin . Anyways good job trying to get awareness out bout this crap of a thing!!!!!!

 

[Enrique]

@cullenbohannon Great idea man! I'll try and interview people at a support group I attend here in San Diego. Some people's stories can be very touching. Maybe interview about three different tinnitus sufferers with hearing loss and with some good video editing I can definitely portray the seriousness of the situation. Thanks again Cullen.

@Marlene @Grace I agree with both of you that having the audience listen to a replica of the tinnitus frequencies of others would be a great method but I am a little worried to play the the tinnitus throughout my entire presentation. I feel if I did that it can take away from their attention and they won't listen to the message. I will most likely play one or more frequencies for no more than a minute. I doubt they will last for more than 30 seconds if I play my tinnitus anyways. lol

Thanks for the input guys. Great ideas. My presentation can last anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes.

 

[valeri]

I agree with @Grace
Playing a sounds (high pitch one) is a must, nothing will get their attention more than that.
At least for the last 5 mins, then they will understand what you're talking about and peoples suffering will make more sense.
Good luck!

 

[Marlene]

I was thinking ,how about afterwards ,maybe in foyer,etc ,they can come and listen to what we hear ,if they're invited to ,I'm sure your get a fair few takers ,wonder if you had show of hands ,how many would maybe have some type of T ,or family ,friends with it ,the sounds alone would be the kicker into taking care of their ears,knowing they can't run away from it,whilst no cure at this present time for it ,
Maybe tell them to look up the T stories on TT ,it certainly opened my eyes,and I've had it for years .
Good thread you placed ,educate ,educate . To T .Your a winner X

 

[Enrique]

@Marlene Thank you Marlene. I think maybe posting a link on the pamphlets to this site. I think I will incorporate Tinnitus sounds into the presentation and offer links as well to some tinnitus sounds online.

 

[Marlene]

Good thinking on your part Enrique ,your at least trying to save others from this only what we ,well most say is miserable condition to have .
Some learn to live with it ,whilst others find it really hard , but I think it catches back up with you at odd times .
It's a condition that's hard to get across to folk ,especially the young ones .
When are you planning on doing this ? Wish you could be given longer slot time.Any possible chance of that happening .?

 

[Enrique]

@Marlene it really is. I believe the best tactic will be to scare them with sounds and stories. Also, many of them know me and can see the difference in my hearing even with hearing aids so that should help. However, I'm trying to set an awareness campaign that I can carry on after I present in this class. The most I have is 12 mins, I get penalized if I go over

 

[jazz]

@Enrique Why don't you try to get a few musicians to comment on tinnitus and music? Perhaps, someone like Coldplay would give you an endorsement? (Just do a Google search about Chris Martin and tinnitus.) He's open about his tinnitus. Besides getting a celeb endorsement--which may be impossible, but why not try?--perhaps people in your school of music would be willing to submit information about the importance of protecting your ears?

I don't know if fear is the best tactic. College undergraduates tend to think they are indestructible, and many, if not most, believe that bad things only happen to other people. But having people tell their story about tinnitus--not to scare but to inform--I like that idea!

I'd also look at the dangerousdecibels.org site. And I'd especially look for information that will inform your audience about sound levels: what levels are too loud; what are examples of dangerous levels, etc. Doing a graph illustrating a sound levels would be helpful. People don't realize what is too loud and to give people an understanding of what sound levels are damaging and why.

See, for example, this link:

http://www.dangerousdecibels.org/education/information-center/decibel-exposure-time-guidelines/​

You might also get some ideas from this thread on TT:

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...d-silence-devils-symphony-etc.117/#post-63608​

 

[nogood]

I been thinking something like this after i say post by atheedgeofscience an youtube link regarding Dr. naglers tv interview done some yrs back.
One point being from wht @Dr. Nagler said "write to your senitor what is the damage caused by T. Millions of individual letter is more effective than one letter with millions of signature."(may not be exact words but it should be close enough).
Its something worth to bring to light.
@Dr. Nagler i think you are one of the right person here in this forum who can give good advice regarding this.

 

[Stina]

Thats a great idea you have. However, I would strongly advise you against using suicide stories. Studies have shown that this kind of approach doesn't bring the message to the normal and healthy people but instead affects the people who are already contemplating suicide (depressed, anxious etc. people). Therefore you might instead end up causing actual damage and suicides. Scaring doesn't really work, esp. on young people who may have not had to endure pain - they just end up feeling indifferent.

Instead I would advise you to read studies about what kind of approaches work. For example this year in Estonia we had a campaign with the aim of trying to inform people that if you go swimming when you're drunk its a bad idea. We had ads on the street and in the TV. This year the number of people drowning were pretty much as high as last year so Id say it doesn't work. It depends a lot on the target audience and culture though so try to find studies done in your own country.

Also, I love the idea of playing EEEEEE or whatever uncomfortable sound for 5-10 minutes. In addition to this, I think nowadays many people think that its normal to have loud music everywhere. You could show that one can have fun without screamingly loud music as well. I personally also love experience stories and I bet you could get people here to write those - but I don't know if it would have an effect on your audience.

I love your attitude though - turning your misery into helping others. I wish there were more people like that.

 

[valeri]

@Enrique

Any news to share with us?
How did you go with your presentation?