About INAD

Fundación Oir es Vivir (To Hear is to Live Foundation) of Panama promotes one minute of silence in support of healthy hearing

International Noise Awareness Day (INAD) was established by the Center for Hearing and Communication (CHC) to raise awareness about the harmful effects of noise on hearing, health and quality of life.

Since its inception in 1996, INAD has grown to include participants in every state in the USA, as well as groups in countries on virtually every continent around the globe.

Participants celebrate by planning activities in their local communities that address their most urgent noise issues. For some, that involves hosting hearing screenings or hearing protection workshops, observing one minute of silence at 2:15 p.m., or conducting a poster contest in schools to encourage healthy hearing practices. Others advocate for changes in legislation or promote technology that can make the world a little quieter. Increasingly INAD participants are lending their voice through social media messaging.

Why do we care so much about unwanted noise? In the short term, noise causes stress (a well-established fact), and stress is hazardous to our health. In the long term, noise causes hearing loss—and hearing loss itself is detrimental to our health and well-being. A growing body of research links hearing loss with social isolation, depression, an increased risk of falls, and even the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease and other dementias.

There’s so much to gain by working together to create a quieter more peaceful world. Our health depends on it!