Introduction
It is estimated that over a billion young people worldwide are at risk of avoidable hearing loss due to unsafe listening practices. In response to this growing public health problem, WHO launched the
Make Listening Safe initiative in 2015, with the aim of preventing hearing loss through hearing conservation.
In response to the public health concern, ITU and WHO have initiated a joint work item to develop global guidelines for safe listening in devices (ITU-T H.870), in venues and for safe listening in videogame play and esports. The WHO-ITU Standard for safe listening devices and systems was
approved in 2019 (ITU-T H.870 "Guidelines for safe listening personal audio systems") and updated in
2022. This makes recommendations for safe listening features in smartphones, headphones and other devices with music playing capabilities. This standard has received widespread global acceptance and leading smartphone manufacturers have integrated its recommendations within their systems. Discussions are ongoing within other standardization for a such as International Electronics Commission (IEC) and the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) to harmonize their current guidance to be in line with this standard.
At present, WHO and ITU are co-developing guidance for manufacturers of video game play hardware and software regarding safe listening features in these popular technologies.
The World Telecommunications Standardization Assembly (WTSA-24) was being held in New Delhi India this year and was accompanied by the India Mobile Congress.
To bring together Governments, health professionals, academia and industry to discuss how ICTs can help make listening safe. This event presented a unique opportunity for WHO and ITU to showcase and promote their safe listening standards for furthering its implementation within the booming mobile technology sector. To capitalize on this, ITU-WHO were co-organizing collaborative activities with the aims to:
- Showcase WHO’s leadership in the field of health and application of technology as part of public health initiatives.
- Strengthen WHO and ITU’s collaboration and raise awareness about the role of technology and standards for addressing noncommunicable diseases and sensory (vision and hearing) impairments.
- Encourage the telecommunication sector to effectively use their technologies for promoting health and reducing the burden of noncommunicable diseases.
- Promote implementation of the global standard for safe listening by stakeholders of the telecommunication technology and standardization sectors.
Target Audience
Representatives of Indian mobile operators and manufacturers, health professionals, policy makers, mobile telecom operators, manufacturers of devices, implementors of videogaming & esports software and hardware, as well as consumers of music and videogaming products and the general public interested in health and safety standards related to audio devices.
Registration
Registration was mandatory. WTSA-24 delegates registered for the main WTSA event can access the venue and did not need to register separately. Other participants could request a registration code by filling this
online form.
Watch recording of the session here
