Noise, what noise? Raising awareness of auditory health among future primary-school teachers

We study the perception of acoustic contamination and its deleterious effects on students preparing to become school teachers and analyse their acoustic habits, with the aim of raising their awareness concerning this problem. We designed a number of activities, applied during a practical lesson, in which students evaluated some of their perceptions and attitudes towards noise, and recorded their hearing capacity. Students increased their noise awareness after performing the practice. We propose the introduction of activities similar to those proposed here, to prevent hearing loss from exposure to noise and promote such preventive activities among these future school teachers.

► Noise-induced hearing loss is becoming a serious health problem in young people.
► Prevention is hampered by the scant awareness concerning the harmful effects.
► Prevention in primary school depends of future school teachers.
► Practical activities in future school teachers raise their degree of awareness.
► Activities similar to those proposed here can prevent noise-induced hearing loss.