Today the talk “Sound Ecology Elements” was held at Triennale Milano”.  The meeting, which focused on topics relating to hearing awareness and noise pollution, was sponsored by Triennale Milano and Amplifon, Hearing Experience Partner of the exhibition Play! and global leader in the hearing care retail market.

 The Artistic Director of Triennale Milano Lorenza Baroncelli, the musician Vittorio Cosma, the sound designer Chiara Luzzana, Antonio Curci, General Manager of the startup Otohub, and Chiara Fracassi, Global Brand & Customer Experience Director Amplifon, all participated in the discussion.

Amplifon has been dedicated to raise awareness about noise pollution and the importance of healthy hearing for years. Informing and educating about responsible listening are an integral part of its Corporate Social Responsibility. “Today’s meeting and the noise tracker feature of the “Ci sentiamo dopo – Listen Responsibly” app are the natural evolution of a path undertaken by Amplifon to convey a message to everyone, particularly young people, about prevention and healthy hearing ” Chiara Fracassi, Amplifon’s Global Brand & Customer Experience Director comments. “Our goal with the exhibition Play! was to educate young people about responsible listening in an unconventional environment full of music, creativity and innovation.  The app “Ci sentiamo dopo – Listen Responsibly” is part of a journey to create a community of pioneers of a new sound culture.  They will leverage on the capability of the noise tracker to create a crowd sourced map of the acoustic ecology in our cities.”

Panelists discussed the ways in which sound and music influence our daily choices and behavior on unconscious and emotional levels. The musician Vittorio Cosma and the sound designer Chiara Luzzana used sound exercises to take the audience on an unusual and fascinating journey through the impossibility of silence and the harmony of noise. The aim was to foster a new awareness on the increasingly crucial issue of noise pollution and the importance of responsible listening.

 “Since I was a child I have always been fascinated by noise and its experimentation” said Chiara Luzzana 

“In my work, noise is the “color palette” through which I compose soundtracks and audio brand strategies. Since 2013, I have created the worldwide project “THE SOUND OF CITY” with a precise goal: to give importance to the cities of the world, no longer through sight, but thanks to their dominant and distinctive component: the sound. As a Sound Designer, the main mission of my sound projects is education to responsible listening: we think that sight guides us in our days, instead, it is unexpected to rediscover how hearing defines the depth of our lives.”

These topics, at the heart of Amplifon’s purpose, are closely connected to the responsible listening map to be created thanks to the Noise Tracker feature in “Ci sentiamo dopo” app.  

“Acoustic ecology depends, firstly, on the sound pressure level (dB) present in the environment.  The Noise Tracker was conceived as a way to provide all citizens, including the youngest ones, with a way to measure the level of noise in our daily lives and identify “quiet zones”  where you can have a pleasant and safe hearing experience, Chiara Fracassi continues. “The Ci Sentiamo Dopo – Listen Responsibly application was developed by Otohub, an innovative startup that became part of the Amplifon Group a few months ago.  Thanks to this acquisition, we have enriched our company with new digital skills to further strengthen our capabilities and know-how in hearing services and solutions”.

The “Ci sentiamo dopo – Listen Responsibly” App was primarily conceived to engage with young people: estimates show that more than 1 billion people between the ages of 12 and 35 risk having hearing problems linked to uncontrolled exposure to noise¹. In 2015 the company published the international consensus paper “Coping with Noise”,  which, for the first time, shed light on how excessive noise can increase the probability of some form of hearing loss by around 30%, and can almost double the occurrence of mood swings, insomnia, difficulty concentrating and headaches.