Califone released today results from an online poll in which participants were asked how much they agree with the statement “since younger students haven’t yet learned what too loud is when using personal audio equipment, technology should help prevent student hearing loss.” A combined 84% of respondents (58% voted they “strongly agree” and 26% “somewhat agreed”) indicated since most younger students don’t fully understand how their hearing can be affected by loud volume levels, technology should be available to help. The poll was held for a three-month period ending April 8th, 2011 and comes at a time when teen hearing loss is increasing. “The findings strongly suggest the need to integrate the appropriate technology into our products whenever possible,” shared Tim Ridgway, VP Marketing for the company. “Califone has already integrated volume-restricting features into some of our recently launched headphones & headsets, MP3 players, jackboxes and even into our tour guide/assistive listening systems and we’ll continue to do so.” To further increase awareness of hearing loss due to inappropriate use of personal audio equipment, Califone began a collaboration with ASHA in 2007 to better educate students and teachers with hearing safety tips contained within ASHA’s “Listen To Your Buds” campaign. The campaign in addition to its website, has included outreach in schools through concerts and contests designed to teach young children how to use personal audio technology safely. Califone continues to support different facets of the campaign as well as the annual Better Hearing & Speech month, held in May.