Lichfield audiologist to create ‘walking sound map’ of Yorkshire Dales during charity hike
A husband and wife team from Lichfield are preparing to hike the Yorkshire Three Peaks - to boost community fund We Love Lichfield and raise awareness of hearing loss.
Laura Evans, principal audiologist at Cathedral Hearing, and husband Richard will be scaling The Yorkshire Three Peaks on Saturday 4th July - a 24 mile route up and down Pen-y-Ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough - in under 12 hours.
While on the walk, Laura and Rich will be creating a sound map of the area – rather than an ‘Ordnance Survey Map’, theirs will be an ‘Outside Sounds Map’.
On the walk, they will record various sounds and afterwards create a visual and audio “map” showing different noises including wildlife, other walkers and the elements especially when they climb the peaks.
Laura said: “I want to explain how even simple activities like going for a walk can be experienced differently by people with hearing loss. Imagine walking through beautiful countryside and finding it harder to follow conversations with other walkers or missing some of the sounds around you, such as birdsong and wildlife.”
And at the same time, they aim to raise money for Local community fund We Love Lichfield. It is the second walking challenge for Laura and Richard Evans in aid of We Love Lichfield having scaled Snowdon in 2025.
They are looking for donations having already raised over £1,000 since they started supporting the place-based community fund in 2024.
The Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge is a 24-mile (38.6 km) circular route in the Yorkshire Dales National Park that summits three distinct peaks: Pen-y-Ghent (694m altitude), Whernside (736m altitude), and Ingleborough (723m altitude).
The challenge is to complete the route, which includes over 1,585 metres of ascent, in under 12 hours.
Laura Evans said: “Supporting the local community is important to me. I have seen first-hand the difference We Love Lichfield makes to the people of Lichfield and the surrounding villages and want to continue supporting this amazing cause.
“We really enjoyed our Snowdon hike last year and wanted our next challenge. But this time I wanted the walk to help me reflect on the experiences of my patients.
Creating our sound map will help to build awareness and empathy for people with hearing loss and encourage those impacted to seek support”.
Donations can be made via Cathedral Hearing Three Peaks Challenge For We Love Lichfield (https://www.justgiving.com/page/ch-yorkshire-three-peaks)
We Love Lichfield is one of the Staffordshire and Shropshire Community Foundation’s place-based funds.
It provides grants to a wide range of projects operating across the district of Lichfield. The fund considers applications from local groups in need twice a year. It raises money and then the returns are given away.
Companies and individuals make up the bulk of the donors to the fund, either through direct donations, or by fundraising.
All the money raised is invested through an endowment fund in line with charity commission guidelines.
The financial return from the fund is then distributed as small grants across the area. The beauty of this model is that it will provide a source of sustainable funding that can be used for grants long into the future.
It’s almost like a pension scheme set up to support community and voluntary groups across Lichfield. Individuals and businesses can raise money for We Love Lichfield. They can fund raise or they can donate via Enthuse here: https://cfss.enthuse.com/welovelichfield
For more about We Love Lichfield, visit www.welovelichfield.co.uk
For more information about Cathedral Hearing visit www.cathedralhearing.co.uk or call 01543 319641
Pictured from left to right: Laura and Richard Evans