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Raising children in this high tech world seems get to more complicated each year. Have you considered how this increase in technology affects your children’s hearing? Their constant use of earbuds and headphones listening to music and playing games on their smart phones, computers and TVs actually brings a huge risk of Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL).
UPDATE: Click here to enter to win a Family Set of Puro Sound Labs Headphones.
Today, one in five teens suffer from some form of hearing loss, a 31% increase since the mid-90s.
Since kids and teens are continuing to increase the amount of time they’re wearing headphones, this problem is going to continue to get worse.[5] So we’re partnering with Puro Sound Labs to share advice on how you can protect your children’s hearing.
We all take a lot for granted in life. And at the top of that list is our hearing.
After my ear drum burst following an airline flight, I suffered a loss of hearing in one ear and had ringing in that ear for several weeks.
It was awful and made me realize how I take my hearing for granted.
While we can’t always prevent certain types of hearing damage, such as my ear drum bursting on that occasion, we definitely can prevent Noise Induced Hearing Loss.
What You Need To Know About Noise Induced Hearing Loss to Protect Your Children
As parents, it’s up to us to protect our children’s hearing. Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) is 100% preventable. We need to understand what it is, what the risks are, and how we can protect our children’s hearing from damage.
What Is Noise Induced Hearing Loss?
“When we are exposed to harmful noise — sounds that are too loud or loud sounds that last a long time — sensitive structures in our inner ear can be damaged, causing noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL).”[1]
If you or you child is continually exposed to loud noise over time, the symptoms of NIHL will appear gradually.
The degree of hearing loss will increase over time as sounds may become distorted or muffled, eventually making it hard for the person to understand speech. As the damage occurs slowly over time, the person with NIHL may not even realize what is happening. But the hearing loss can be detected with a hearing test.[1]
What Are the Risks of Noise Induced Hearing Loss?
The high volume sounds over time damage hair cells and the auditory nerve.
An extremely loud burst of sound, such as a gunshot or explosion can cause immediate and permanent NIHL because it ruptures the eardrum or damage the bones in the middle ear.[3]
Some NIHL causes tinnitus — a ringing or buzzing in the ears or head — which might gradually reduce and eventually stop. While Tinnitus may subside over time, it can continue constantly or reoccur occasionally throughout your life.
You can suffer hearing loss and tinnitus in one or both ears.
“Sometimes exposure to impulse or continuous loud noise causes a temporary hearing loss that disappears 16 to 48 hours later. Recent research suggests, however, that although the loss of hearing seems to disappear, there may be residual long-term damage to your hearing.”[3]
The risk of hearing damage is higher the younger the child.
“In small children, the rule is the smaller the ear, the louder sound grows in the ear, and the more dangerous it could be,” said audiologist Jennifer Taylor.[2]
Ron Eavey M.D., Department of Otolaryngology Director at Vanderbilt University, says 20 percent of high school students have permanent ringing their ears. He says this is an increase of 1/3 over 15 years.[2]
How Can You Prevent Noise Induced Hearing Loss?
You need to avoid exposure to loud noise especially continual exposure over time.
- Wear Earplugs At Loud Events
“Earplugs are effective in preventing temporary hearing loss during high recreational music levels. Therefore, the use of earplugs should be actively promoted and encouraged to avoid noise-induced hearing loss,” wrote the research team led by Dr. Wilko Grolman of the University Medical Center Utrecht, in the Netherlands.[4]
For our kids, loud noise exposure often occurs at rock concerts and other types of recreational music and sporting events.
The solution is actually simple — wear earplugs while attending these loud events. But I admit… it might be difficult to convince your teens to wear earplugs when they head off to a rock concert.
If you have a girl, suggest that she simply keep her hair down covering her ears and no one else will notice the ear plugs. For male teens, I suspect it may be harder to convince them… but try.
When I was in my teens and twenties, my favorite place to be was at a loud rock concert. I remember when I was 16 and headed off to see “The Who” in concert, my mom handed me a pair of earplugs and begged me to wear them. I shoved them in my pocket and didn’t pay much attention. I was used to regularly attending rock concerts and felt like the ridiculously loud volume of the music was part of the experience. My friends and I laughed about the ringing in our ears afterward. But at that particular concert, “The Who”, who were notorious for being crazy loud, lived up to their expectations and it was LOUD.
I was so thankful to have the earplugs. But even still, my ears rang for days.
- Turn Down The Volume
As damaging as rock concerts are to teens’ hearing, another huge problem is the high volume they listen to music through earbuds and headphones.
As a teenager in the ’80s, I was guilty of cranking the volume of my “walkman” up to 10 and listening to music for hours and hours. I didn’t realize the damage I was doing.
But for this generation, the problem is worse. Their ears are continually attached to devices blasting out music, movies, TV or the sounds of violent games.
While they should really have the volume set at “5”, it’s more than likely at “10”.
Unfortunately, it’s usually impossible for you to enforce the volume of your child’s headphones… until now. There is one type of headphone from Puro Sound Labs that limits the volume of their Child’s headphones to 85dB. It is the Puro Sound BT2200 Studio Grade Children’s Bluetooth Headphones.
- Wear Noise Cancelling Headphones Instead of Earbuds
Avoid letting your children use earbuds or other in-ear models. The closer the sound source is to the delicate working of the inner ear, the more damage loud sound can do. Headphones are a safer choice.[5]
Spend a little extra to ensure their headphones are noise cancelling or “noise attenuating.” This means the headphones will block out extra background noise so you can hear the music more clearly. Without good attenuation, your child will crank up the volume to compensate for background noise.
UPDATE: Click here to enter to win a Family Set of Puro Sound Labs Headphones.
- Turn it Off and Take Off The Headphones
Try to help your children reduce the amount of time they’re listening to headphones. The majority of damage to teens hearing is due to listening to loud music for extended periods of time.
And make sure your kids aren’t sneaking earbuds into their ears while they go to sleep. I’ll admit, I was guilty of listening to my “walkman” as I went to sleep in my teen years. So I know kids do this… don’t let them!
Go for walks together as a family and enjoy the quiet and subtle sounds of birds and nature.
- Lead By Example
So often parenting is about teaching our kids through our actions and not our words. If you’re going to a loud sports event or music concert, show them that you’re going to wear earplugs.
When you listen to music, use headphones with the volume set at “5” or use the same child version of Purosound headphones which limit the volume to 85dB. They fit most adults. I’ve worn my child’s Purosound headphones and the volume is definitely high enough.
While the statistics are scary, remember that knowledge is power and that Noise Induced Hearing Loss is completely preventable.
Explain to your kids about the dangers of listening to loud music or games for extended periods of time and help them set limits. For true peace of mind, and to help get your kids on board, get them the Puro Sound BT2200 Studio Grade Children’s Bluetooth Headphones that limit the volume to a safe 85dB.
Sources:
1. hearinghealthfoundation.org
2. wkrn.com
3. nidcd.nih.gov
4. health.usnews.com/health-news
5. purosound.com
UPDATE: Click here to enter to win a Family Set of Puro Sound Labs Headphones.
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Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Puro Sound Labs.
Written by Susan Carraretto, co-founder of 5 Minutes for Mom
Talk with me: @5minutesformom and Facebook.com/5minutesformom
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