Focus of the study

The educational package ‘de HoorToren’ teaches children from an early age about hearing damage and safe use of sound (e.g. music players and parties). First, the parent component of HoorToren will be strengthened. The effectiveness of HoorToren will then be studied among pupils in groups 6 and 7 through a randomised experiment:

  • The primary outcome measure concerns the child’s safe listening behaviour when using earbuds or headphones with various devices (smartphone, tablet, gaming device).
  • Daily sound exposure will also be measured using a telephone application.
  • Thirdly, the study will examine how this integrated approach can be embedded and implemented in primary school policy.


This study will contribute to scientific and practical knowledge about effective hearing damage prevention among young people, which is currently very limited. The intended result is that HoorToren will be expanded into a more integrated intervention. The insights gained into effective elements and the requirements for schools to implement the intervention across the entire school and embed the subject in school policy have been added to HoorToren and/or its implementation. This is expected to make HoorToren immediately applicable in practice. Preventing hearing damage is of great social and individual importance, and this study can make an important contribution in this area.

Background

Hearing damage caused by loud noise is a major and widespread social problem. The use of modern media is fully integrated into daily life. People are also exposed to loud noises in the hospitality industry, at festivals, etc., with potentially harmful effects. Hearing damage that has occurred is permanent and causes lifelong complaints, such as hearing loss, tinnitus and sound sensitivity. There is a great need for early and effective prevention.

Various initiatives exist to raise awareness of hearing damage caused by loud noise. These are usually aimed at young people, with the aim of promoting safe behaviour around sound. This study examines the effectiveness of a preventive primary school educational package on healthy use of sound. The results address an important need among practitioners, policymakers and scientists.

Collaboration

The project group consists of partners with complementary backgrounds and expertise. Erasmus MC and UMC Utrecht are academic centres with experience and expertise in hearing damage among children and in conducting and supervising scientific research, including RCTs. VeiligheidNL is the knowledge centre for injury prevention, including hearing damage prevention, and is the intervention owner involved. VeiligheidNL has expertise and experience in behavioural change, qualitative research, intervention development and implementation, as well as a relevant network of municipal public health services (GGDs) and schools, and participates in and collaborates within the Healthy School approach. The study is funded through a grant from ZonMw.