Healthy Ears, Limited Annoyance (HELA) Research Cooperative

We are requesting funding to establish the Healthy Ears, Limited Annoyance Research Cooperative (HELA Research Co-op, pronounced HELL-UH, a play on the Californian slang “hella,” meaning very), which will be closely linked to the soon-to-be-launched HELA Certification. After two years, profits from HELA Certification will sustain HELA Research Co-op indefinitely. The Co-op will create a collaborative research network that not only supports the sustainability of live events but also prioritizes public health and community wellbeing. Recent years have seen an increased focus on the hearing health of people attending live music events, both as audience members and staff, as well as the wellbeing of those living nearby. In response, the HELA Initiative was proposed in the Audio Engineering Society’s (AES) Technical Document AESTD1007.1.20-05, “Understanding and Managing Sound Exposure and Noise Pollution at Outdoor Events.” This document highlighted 25 significant knowledge gaps and inconsistent practices globally, providing strong motivation for change of these practices. Further impetus came from the World Health Organization (WHO), whose Global Standard for Safe Listening Venues and Events and 2018 Community Noise Guidelines highlighted similar shortcomings. The HELA Initiative is structured around two streams: (1) education; and (2) research. This application focuses on the second stream, the HELA Research Co-op, which aims to advance research in areas such as audio engineering, acoustics, architecture, music technology and hearing science. HELA’s education stream, realized as the HELA Certification online course (launching by March 2025), equips stakeholders – including venue staff, sound engineers, management, and performers – with a robust understanding of best practices for creating high-quality, safe listening environments while minimising noise pollution in surrounding communities. The HELA Research Co-op will address the critical knowledge gaps identified by the AES and WHO, encouraging collaboration between academia, manufacturers, and end-users. This collaboration will foster positive growth, strengthen research capabilities, and enable knowledge transfer across the live event industry. To support this mission, three thematic sandpits will be held, each focused on fostering collaboration and innovation. The first sandpit will explore safe listening practices in music venues. Key questions include: How can audience sound exposure be accurately monitored (and displayed to sound engineers) in real-time? What are the physiological and psychological effects of low-frequency sound on staff and audience members? Research may also focus on whether common hearing protection effectively prevents damage from low-frequency sound, and will explore how to promote healthy hearing behaviours among audience members. The second sandpit will focus on music-based noise annoyance. This will examine how to balance high-quality audience experiences with minimised off-site noise pollution. Research may include: developing improved deployments of subwoofer systems to reduce noise pollution and examining the negative effects of domestic acoustic room resonances on received noise from external music activities. Additional research may aim to improve noise annoyance prediction methods by better understanding why and how residents become annoyed by nearby events, and crucially, how to address these issues without jeopardizing local live events. This may include research to improve standard noise propagation models to better equip event planners, engineers and local authorities in the pre-event assessment of potential impact of noise. A third sandpit will be developed in response to early outcomes from the first two, allowing flexibility in addressing emerging research needs. This iterative approach ensures that HELA’s research remains adaptable and responsive to industry developments and challenges.