H.E.A.R. Hearing Education and Awareness for Rockers has teamed up with The National Campaign for Hearing Health (NCHH), to collaborate on a "Practice Safe Sound" project, to educate teens, musicians and music lovers about the dangers of hearing damage and tinnitus from repeated exposure to loud decibel levels in music and other noise with the advice and assistance of Music Television (MTVN) at MTV Spring Break in Cancun, Mexico. The TV episode will air over spring of 2002.

H.E.A.R. Project Executive Director and co-founder Kathy Peck and Ron Eavey, MD Harvard Researcher and Massachusetts Eye and Ear Doc will be working with our volunteers DJ Polywog , Gwendaline Mazarra, Jeannie Chung, MD, Felipe Santos, MD at MTV Spring Break in Cancun passing out donated earplugs, hearing lit and giving hearing tests to the Spring Break kids.

["But spring break has been marred by alcohol-related injuries, deaths and sexual assaults, said Dr. J. Edward Hill, chairman-elect of the American Medical Association. Yesterday, the AMA took on the alcohol and tourism industries' "reckless promotion of alcohol as a key component of spring break. " The group hopes parents and campus administrators will push for regulations to ban the ads and enforcement of drinking laws." March 8, 2002 (SF Chronicle) Spring brake/Doctors group hopes to curb some of the excesses during the booze- and sex-fueled college rite Tanya Schevitz, Chronicle Staff Writer]

"We hope to do our part to provide a safe setting for the kids", Executive Director Kathy Peck explains how H.E.A.R. has worked hard for over a decade to make these in roads into the music community and in the public with their grassroots efforts.

"Our H.E.A.R. Street Team is made up of volunteers; teens, bands, DJs, and health students throughout the US who care about their hearing and want to help us tell their friends and fan base how important it is for their music sake to protect their hearing. We are thrilled that MTV is allowing us this great opportunity to get that message out at MTV Spring Break."

Sponsors for the PSS MTV Spring Break are MTV, NCHH's partner Sonomax and H.E.A.R.'s Affiliates Etymotic Research/ ER20 Earplugs, Aearo EAR plugs, Westone Labs, Future Sonics, Ear -Q Tech Computer Hearing Analyzer.

Special thanks to MTV, Ahna Biddle and Jeanette Prymus, TomAnonymous.com, Perception.TV, Fuzzmonster.com, Impak Corp, Tony Eldon, Ear Q, Ron Eavey, M.D. of Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Jeannie Chung, Felipe Santos, John Meunier of Cogent Research, NCHH's Elizabeth Throp and Kiersten Tomchik, H.E.A.R. Street Team: Gwendaline Mazzarra, DJ Polywog, Kathy Peck, David Denny and Choo Choo.

H.E.A.R. STREET TEAM OUTREACH PROGRAM:

H.E.A.R.'s outreach to live music clubs, raves, dance clubs, concert tours, schools and other music events. Our volunteer H.E.A.R. Street Team reaches thousands of teens and young adults across the US. (Philadelphia, New Orleans, New York, Houston, Dallas, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Miami Beach, Phoenix, Chicago, and more!) Over 13 major cities across the US. We are signing up musicians, DJs, music fans and health students as HEAR Street Team members in their local area to help us get Hearing Awareness out on the streets. Sign up for your city now on www.hearnet.com

H.E.A.R. is neither state nor federally funded. These and numerous other projects funded by individual charitable contributions continue to spearhead our fight against hearing loss and tinnitus among music lovers worldwide. We are making in roads, and our efforts continue to gain wider recognition both in and out of the music business.

However, we will not be satisfied until it is totally cool for musicians and audiences to protect their hearing, so much so that the incidence of hearing loss and tinnitus resulting from exposure to loud music drops to practically nothing.

For more information about the H.E.A.R. Street Team, information on hearing loss or how you can help contact: www.hearnet.com