FIGHTING THE CAUSES OF HEARING LOSS WITH THE EAVE TUBE CHALLENGE
The Eave Tube Challenge raised awareness of environmental deafness while raising funds for five key hearing loss charities
466 million people worldwide have disabling hearing loss, costing an estimated US$750 billion
Eave protective headsets collate noise data while defending the ears against environmental noise
Wednesday 3rd April 2019 saw a challenge like no other being undertaken on and under the streets of London. Not only was there an attempt to beat the Guinness World Record for visiting all the London Tube stations in the fastest time, but participants wore special ear protectors that recorded the noise levels encountered on the route. This was the 2019 Eave Tube Challenge.
What was the Eave Tube Challenge?
In 1960, a Guinness World Record began, with people racing to visit all of London’s tube stations in the fastest possible time. The current record for fastest completion of the challenge is 15 hours, 45 minutes and 38 seconds. That was set on 21st May 2015. On April 3rd 2019 Eave representatives set out to best that time. Rather than just racing against the clock, however, they also collected sound data from the tube network. The underground system exposes commuters to some of the highest noise levels in London.
What was the purpose of the Eave Tube Challenge?
In a recent study, the BBC revealed that on a tube journey between Liverpool Street and Bethnal Green, the noise peaked at 109 decibels – louder than a helicopter taking off nearby. Prolonged exposure to noise above 85 decibels is enough to compromise hearing.
While this is a currently unavoidable side-effect of tube travel, Eave was hoping to raise awareness with commuters, so that they can take action to protect themselves. 466 million people worldwide have disabling hearing loss. 34 million of these are children. Many of these cases could have been avoided had appropriate care been taken in noisy surroundings.
As well as raising awareness, Eave raised money for five major deafness charities: Action on Hearing Loss, Sound Seekers, The British Tinnitus Association, The British Society of Audiology, and The National Deaf Children’s Association.
Who are Eave?
Eave is an organisation created to help with the prevention of avoidable deafness through the monitoring of, and protection against damaging noise levels. Founded by clinical and research audiologist, Dr. David Greenberg, Eave’s mission is to prevent noise induced hearing loss, while raising awareness of the isolating – and sometimes debilitating – impact of deafness.
As part of their work, the organisation has created a ground-breaking smart ear defender, which collects noise data while protecting the ears. The purpose of these is to help employers see where they need to be taking more care of their staff, while providing researchers with the information they need to develop better solutions for auditory care.
Eave founder and CEO, Dr. David Greenberg, comments:
“We are undertook the Tube Challenge to raise awareness of disabling hearing loss and to support those great charities working tirelessly to support those impacted by it. Hearing loss doesn’t just present a personal tragedy/hardship, but also a huge economic drain. WHO (The World Health Organisation) estimates that unaddressed hearing loss poses an annual global cost of US$750 billion. And yet most people remain unaware of the factors that could lead to deafness. While advancing technology has led to huge improvements in the effectiveness of hearing aids in recent years, there is no denying that prevention is better than cure. The work of Eave is to provide the protection to help facilitate that prevention, as well as gathering information and raising awareness so that people can begin to start helping themselves.”
