| Summary: | This paper presents Plug It, It’s Fine!, the first public communication campaign in Singapore encouraging the use of High-fidelity earplugs (HFEs) at loud music events and activities like concerts, clubs, and spin classes to combat recreational Noise-Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) among Nanyang Technological University (NTU) students aged 18 to 26. Spurred by the comeback of concerts, clubs and spin classes in Singapore (Tan, 2022) and post-pandemic ‘revenge’ behaviour (Lee, 2023; Lin, 2022), youths are increasingly exposed to loud volumes of music without proper protection, putting them at risk of NIHL. These activities often subjected participants to volumes of 100 decibels and above for prolonged periods, far beyond the safe listening level of 85 decibels (WHO, 2015) for up to eight hours a day, which can result in irreversible hearing damage (WHO, 2022). Wearing earplugs, particularly HFEs, helps prevent NIHL and is the most feasible way to protect one’s hearing without compromising the music-listening experience. The campaign aimed to (1) increase our target audience’s (TA’s) knowledge and their perceived susceptibility to NIHL, (2) improve their impressions towards HFEs by creating first-hand experiences surrounding the effectiveness of HFEs as a protective measure which preserves sound quality, and (3) encourage them to adopt the behaviour of wearing HFEs at loud music venues. To do so, Plug It, It’s Fine! conducted a roadshow and hosted two experiential events to allow NTU students to personally dispel existing misconceptions and experience the effectiveness of using HFEs. These tactics were complemented by social media engagement efforts which accumulated over 100,000 impressions online. Through its three phases: Pause It!, Preach It!, Plug It!, Plug It, It’s Fine! successfully increased the proportion of our TA who use HFEs from 3.51% to 54.39% at the end of the four-month campaign period.
A post-campaign evaluation of impact and output objectives indicated that the campaign successfully increased knowledge levels of NIHL and awareness of HFEs, improved attitudes towards HFEs, and resulted in actual behavioural change as TA members began to actively wear and advocate for HFEs at noisy venues.
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