Organised with the British Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS), UKHCA 2026: Hearing Conservation – Making an Impact will bring together specialists from regulation, occupational health, audiology, academia and industry to explore ways to protect hearing at work and in everyday life.
The focus is shifting from measuring noise exposure to preventing harm through stronger risk management, effective hearing protection, health surveillance and public awareness. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) will update delegates on its new workplace noise campaign, setting out the regulator’s priorities and what they mean for employers.
The programme also looks beyond traditional workplace noise. Sessions will consider recreational noise and young people’s hearing, ways to engage Gen Z with hearing protection, and how the World Health Organization’s Global Standard for Safe Listening can be put into practice at music venues and events.
Other topics include hearing protection effectiveness, the value of training, occupational health and audiology practice, safe noise exposure for hearing aid users, and the business case for noise risk management. The programme will also consider how case law has influenced claims for hearing damage.
The wider effects of hearing loss will be addressed too, including research into the association between hearing impairment and depression among older adults.
Clare Forshaw, UKHCA founder and director, told That's Heath that protecting hearing means understanding how people encounter sound, use protection and identify damage early. People should value their hearing before it is affected.
The conference will feature contributions from the HSE, RNID, the British Society of Audiology, the Ministry of Defence and Tinnitus UK, alongside researchers from UK and international universities.
For the first time, the event will also host the UKHCA Hearing Conservation Champions Awards, recognising people and organisations making a positive contribution to hearing conservation.
Professor Kevin Bampton, chief executive of BOHS, explained that noise-induced hearing damage is preventable, but effective prevention means treating hearing as worth protecting throughout working and wider life, not simply meeting compliance requirements. He added that collaboration between occupational hygiene, audiology, acoustics, occupational health, research and regulation is essential to turn knowledge into better prevention.
For the full programme and booking details, visit the UKHCA 2026 conference page.
As a personal note even though I spent the six years in the mid to late 1970s in a noisy industrial working environment wearing hearing protection I still suffered some hearing loss.
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