Delta Zeta's Learn 2 Listen Week

This week is Delta Zeta’s Learn 2 Listen Week. We are sponsoring it again this year because noise-induced hearing loss is on the rise in teenagers and college age students. As an organization where most members join during their college years, Delta Zeta is compelled to raise awareness of this new epidemic and support one of our national philanthropies, speech and hearing.

One in five American teenagers now suffers from some type of hearing loss, with an alarming increase of 31% in the last decade alone. Instead of having noticeable hearing loss in their 50s or 60s, today’s college student will face these difficulties in their 30s and 40’s. And most of this is preventable simply by learning to listen!

Just think of the number of people you see each day with their ear phones in, listening to music or a podcast or maybe even last week’s calculus lecture. Maybe you are sitting next to them on an airplane, or in the student union. Can you hear the sound coming out of their ear buds? If so, then it is too loud! Turning the volume down half-way on your device when using ear buds can help save your hearing.

To learn more about hearing loss prevention, visit our national philanthropy partners: House Research Institute’s It’s How You Listen That Counts at www.earbud.org and the Starkey Hearing Foundation’s Listen Carefully and Sound Matters initiatives at www.starkeyhearingfoundation.org.

Additional information for chapters planning events can be found on our website. Delta Zeta’s Pinterest board has articles as well as some craft and project ideas to raise awareness about noise induced hearing loss. Follow Delta Zeta on Twitter with the hashtag #DZLearn2Listen. And watch our Facebook page for frequent updates and ways you can get involved in Learn 2 Listen Week.