Manifest banded together with The Canadian Hearing Society to kick off the ‘Keep on Listening’ campaign with a very special event at Yonge-Dundas Square Wednesday, April 25th.
Manifesters and CHS volunteers spent the day handing out 5,000 ‘earfoams’ packages to unsuspecting pedestrians. The packages appeared to contain free ear buds. However, on closer examination, they turned out to be ear plugs, accompanied by an invitation to insert the ear plugs and simulate the hearing loss that listening to music at unsafe volumes may result in.
Manifest created this initiative particularly with young people in mind. Audiologists predict that 1 in 5 adolescents may be permanently damaging their hearing by unsafe listening. This potential epidemic of hearing loss needs to be addressed.
Reaction on the street was positive, with many praising The Canadian Hearing Society for quite literally bringing this critical issue to the public square. Young people who admitted ignoring warnings about volume in the past said they’d think more about turning it down. Parents and grandparents asked for extra packages to take home and share.
Keep on listening, and watching this space, for more information and a video about this exciting event.
In the meantime, you can enjoy this fun audio teaser we sent out to promote the giveaway:
