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Hearing Loss In Children From iPods and Other Environmental Factors |
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Written by Chad Criswell
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Noise-induced Hearing Loss
As adults we take the precious gift of hearing for
granted. Our children disregard it even more so. In this age of MP3
players and iPods, protecting a child or teenager's hearing is often a
secondary concern. Since a parent cannot normally tell how loud the
music on their child's iPod is, it never occurs to them to check it
out. In truth, many youth already suffer from the beginning signs of
hearing loss. Sadly a recent study showed that for the most part teenagers are not worried about the long term damage they may be causing to their hearing.
Causes of Hearing Loss in Children:
While there are also medical causes for hearing loss such
as various communicable diseases, by far the most dangerous and easily
recognizable causes of hearing loss in children is from prolonged
exposure to loud sound sources of above 80 decibels. A common lawn
mower produces noise in the range of 80 decibels. A typical rock
concert produces sound in excess of 110 decibels. At those elevated
levels hearing loss can occur in as little as a couple of hours (also
the typical length of a rock concert). Live concerts however are not
the biggest threat to a child's hearing. The biggest and most current
cause of hearing loss in children of teenage years is the use of earbud style headphones along with iPods and other MP3 players that are turned up to dangerous levels.
Signs of Hearing Loss in Children:
Younger children may find it difficult to recognize and
articulate the early signs of hearing damage. Pain or ringing in the
ears is a classic symptom, and is easily observed in the minutes after
listening to or being exposed to loud noises
for any reasonable duration of time. Other symptoms more often seen in
older individuals include difficulty being able to hear the voices of
children and women (due to the frequencies involved in their speech)
and asking for words to be repeated several times.
Hearing Loss Prevention:
Hearing Loss Dangers
In some European countries manufacturers such as Apple have been forced to put limiters on the iPod
to reduce output to less that 100 decibels. In the United States there
are no such laws, however parents are able to find special earphones
and other accessories that will limit volume output to earbud style
headphones. Other professionals recommend using special
noise-canceling headphones that reduce the amount of ambient noise and
in turn reduce the need for a person to crank the volume up in order to
hear the music. Aspiring musicians (especially drummers) should be
required to use earplugs or ear protection of some type when practicing
or playing for long periods of time in small practice rooms. An
excellent book by Marshall Chasin speaks directly to the subject of hearing loss prevention in musicians.
The simple solution to all of this is to urge parents to prevent
hearing loss in children is to simply be aware of the music and volume
levels to which their children are listening. Pull out the plugs for a
moment and try them on. Share with them the information that
preventing hearing loss must be a life long quest and that damage done
in their youth will come back to haunt them in old age.
Tags: hearing loss in children signs of hearing loss hearing loss prevention prevention of hearing loss ipod hearing loss music hearing loss
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