In recognition of World Hearing Day on March 3, Meyer Sound is highlighting its participation in global standards initiatives, education efforts, and partnerships focused on safer listening practices in live sound environments.
A key driver of this evolution is the World Health Organization’s Make Listening Safe initiative, which addresses venues and live events. The standard reframes hearing health as a systems-level issue—one shaped by sound system design, venue acoustics, monitoring practices, and education.
For Meyer Sound President & CEO John Meyer, hearing health is inseparable from sound quality and listener perception. “Sound is only successful if people can listen to it comfortably and clearly over time,” he says. “Hearing health is a responsibility that should be built into how sound is designed and experienced.”
Meyer Sound senior acoustic engineer Jessica Borowski is involved in the WHO Make Listening Safe initiative, contributing practitioner insight as framework for live venues and events is refined. For Borowski, the standard marks a shift from isolated personal choices to shared responsibility. “For many years, hearing health in live sound relied almost entirely on individual behavior, while the WHO framework acknowledges that safe listening is influenced by the entire environment—how systems are designed, how sound is distributed in a space, and how informed the people working in those environments are,” she explains.