A consultation on the Make Listening Safe initiative was held at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland on 17-19 February 2020 with the objectives to:
- Share the progress made in different areas of work
- Revise the current text of the WHO-ITU Standard for safe listening devices, and discuss ITU compliance testing process
- Share the progress in online approaches for raising awareness among different target audiences; a media brief on safe listening, the Be Healthy, Be Mobile mHealth tool for safe listening, and the development of a novel WHO school-based module for safe listening
- Share progress and discuss the development of a regulatory framework for control of recreational sound exposure in entertainment venues.
- Finalize the research protocol for determining the incidence of noise-induced hearing loss in recreational settings
Participants included experts in the field of audiology, otology, public health, epidemiology, acoustics and sound engineering; representatives of ITU member organizations, government agencies, NGOs, professional bodies, musicians, venue owners, event organizers and consumer groups.