Bondholders collaborate on ground-breaking hearing health initiative

The University of Derby and digital learning agency Marked Improvement have been working on a ground-breaking global initiative aimed at protecting people from harmful sound exposure at live events.

Launched earlier this year, HELA (Healthy Ears, Limited Annoyance) has already been adopted by more than 130 venues worldwide, including iconic sites such as Wembley.

Marked Improvement E-learning played a central role in bringing HELA to life, designing and building the entire digital platform using its locally developed Coursebeam learning-management system and producing the initiative’s first two online training courses.

Developed with academics from the University of Derby’s Electro-Acoustics Research Lab (EARLab) and more than 30 international experts from Europe, the US and Australia, HELA is the world’s first certification scheme dedicated to responsible sound management – combining hearing health, noise-annoyance reductio and sustainable live-event operations.

Dr Adam Hill, associate professor of electro-acoustics at the University of Derby and co-founder of HELA, describes the initiative as “not about turning live sound down – it’s about raising standards globally and protecting hearing while keeping events exciting, safe and sustainable.”

According to the World Health Organization, over a billion people aged 12 to 35 are at risk of hearing loss due to recreational sound exposure.

For venues, festivals and touring events, managing sound responsibly is no longer optional – it is essential for audience safety, regulatory compliance and community relations.

HELA addresses these challenges by providing consistent, evidence-based guidance covering how hearing works and how to protect it, designing safe, high-quality sound environments, managing community noise impact and developing sustainable and responsible operational practices.

As well as collaborating closely with the university to design and develop the HELA certification platform and create online training programmes, Marked Improvement also supported international experts contributing research, technical guidance and content and enabled global adoption, with venues across the UK, Europe, North America and Australia already training staff and completing certification.

Charles Shields, director of Marked Improvement, said: “We’re incredibly proud that a Derby business has helped create something with genuinely global reach.

“HELA is setting a new international benchmark for safe, high-quality listening environments — and Coursebeam is at the heart of how venues access the training and certification.

“It’s a great example of Derby innovation driving industry standards worldwide.”