Saving the iPod generation – Peter Blamey wins Clunies Ross Award

Blamey Saunders hears
Peter Blamey launching Australia Hears

A hearing loss expert who will tonight be awarded one of Australia’s top science prizes will address students in Sydney Friday 15 June on the danger posed by their iPods.

Professor Peter Blamey, who is calling for action to save the hearing of the “iPod generation”, will speak to year 10 students at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour, from 9.30am AEST on 15 June.

Media are invited to attend his presentation, which will include:

  • An appeal to the “iPod generation” – who have grown up amid of time of widespread availability and use of personal MP3 players – to safeguard their hearing.
  • Research-backed advice on how loud, and for how long, an iPod can be used safely.
  • Information on how the sounds we are exposed to have a cumulative impact.

Students will be told listening to loud music on their iPod can exceed a safe limit in as little as 20 seconds, and any damage caused is irreversible.

“I’m not worried about the occasional night out with live music, but with the cumulative impact of exposure to quite loud sounds,” Peter says.

“I want the iPod generation to keep their hearing.”

Peter is a speaker at the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) 2012 “Extreme Science Experience”,  which draws together around 240 students.

Tonight he will be awarded a Clunies Ross Science and Technology Medal at a gala event in Sydney. It recognises Peter’s broad career in research and development, including work on a bionic ear and the invention of a new hearing aid system (IHearYou).

Peter’s positions include Executive Chairman of Blamey & Saunders Hearing Pty Ltd and Honorary Professorial Fellow in the Department of Otolaryngology, The University of Melbourne.

The other winners of the 2012 Clunies Ross medals are:

  • Dr Gideon Chitombo, a research leader in cave mining and blasting at the University of Queensland;
  • Professor Stuart Crozier whose technology is in 70 per cent of the world’s MRI scanners (also at UQ);
  • Sir William (Bill) Tyree OBE whose name is synonymous with electrical transformer manufacture in Australia.

Media contact for ATSE: Cathy Reade, creade@squirrel.com.au or Bill Mackey, bill.mackey@atse.org.au

Media contact for Blamey and Saunders: Niall Byrne on 0417 131 977, niall@scienceinpublic.com.au.

Further information at www.blameysaunders.com.au

For more information, or to organise an interview with Professor Blamey, contact Niall Byrne on 0417 131 977, niall@scienceinpublic.com.au.