Kids and Noise Induced Hearing Loss

If you've been reading this blog or scanning the internet for hearing-related news over the past couple years, you already know what I'm about to say.  But, a reminder is necessary as the weather is finally warmer and more people are out running and walking and mowing their lawns while wearing their iPods.

Noise-induced hearing loss.  It's real folks.  Of course, we know if happens to people who work in factories and other places with really loud noise. But what about your habits? Do you use an iPod or other music player with headphones?  Do you pay attention to how loud you are setting your volume?

What about your kids?

"Hearing loss due to noise exposure is the only type of hearing loss we have any control over. As a pediatric audiologist, I treat the effect of loud music on an alarming number of younger patients. As a mother, I understand that music is a part of every generation and today's youth has more opportunities to directly expose their fragile ears to outputs that can cause hearing loss." says Jacqueline Scholl, Au.D., The Scholl Center for Communication Disorders

Results from a survey done by MTV showed that about half of the 2500 respondents listen to their music players at 75-100% of the maximum volume.  Nearly half also reported symptoms of hearing loss - ringing in the ears, trouble hearing, ear pain when in loud noise.  This is alarming. What's more alarming is that even fewer (about 30%) said they thought this might be a problem.

We NEED to teach our children.  YOU as a parent, need to tell your children to protect their ears...just like you tell them to wear sunscreen or to brush their teeth.

A good piece of advice:  if you can hear the music your child is listening too, it's too loud. Simple. Easy. Tell them to turn it down, or make them use volume-reducing earphone/earbuds.

More questions? Need those safe earbuds? Give us a call.

WHAT?

If your kid thinks it's cool to listen to his iPod at full blast, or to have her ears ringing after a Justin Bieber concert, it's time to speak up about the dangers. nearly half of the 2,500 respondents in a 2010 mtv.com survey said they listened to MP3 players at 75 to 100 percent of their maximum volume. Nearly half also said they experienced symptoms of hearing loss (ringing in the ears, trouble hearing, ear pain from loud noise) but only 32 percent said the considered it a problem.

"Hearing loss is so prevalent that it has become the norm," says study author Roland Eavey, M.D., director of the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center. "Parents need to tell kids to protect their ears, just as they tell them to wear helmets and sunscreen." A good gauge and house rule: if you can hear the music your child is listening to on his MP3 player, it's too loud. Also consider nipping the problem in the earbud with healthy headphone options. like volume-reducing earphones (we have some available in our office for $19.99 plus tax).  They make great stocking stuffers!

Noise and Hearing Loss

What is noise induced hearing loss?
When exposed to harmful impulse noise or loud sounds over a prolonged period, sensitive structures in our inner ear can be damaged causing noise induced hearing loss (NIHL). These sensitive structures, called hair cells, are small sensory cells in the inner ear that convert sound energy into electrical signals that travel tot he rain. Once damaged, hair cells cannot grow back. Recent studies have shown that exposure to harmful noise triggers the formation of molecules inside the ear that can damage or kill hair cells.

How much noise is too much?
Sounds louder than 85 decibels (dB) can damage your ears. A decibel is a unit that measures the intensity of sound on a scale from 0 to 150. a normal conversation is about 45 dB. Jack hammers and dump trucks ring in at over 100dB and mp3 players can exceed 120dB!

What are the affects of NIHL?
Exposure to harmful sounds causes damage to the hair cells as well as the auditory, or hearing, nerve. Impulse sound can result in immediate hearing loss that may be permanent. This kind of hearing loss may be accompanied by tinnitus,  a ringing, buzzing or roaring in the ears or head, which may subside over time. Hearing loss and tinnitus may be experienced in one or both ears, and tinnitus may continue constantly or occasionally throughout a lifetime.

Noise in the Workforce...in unexpected places

We've all been there - in bars or restaurants or perhaps even the gym when the noise is just outrageous. It's so loud that conversations are difficult to have.  Yes, we've all been there. But, have we ever really thought about that noise?  What about the people working there?

We all know that factories are held accountable for the levels of noise their employees are exposed to. OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) is responsible for monitoring workplace noise.  They're the ones that mandate those loud factories to administer annual hearing checks on their employees and provide them with hearing protection.

BUT, did you know that some restaurants and other public places can be just as dangerously loud?  An article was published in The New York Times in July 2012 that sites at least one restaurant in New York City to often have noise levels averaging 96dB!  That's as loud as a power lawn mower and can cause hearing damage in as little as 30 minutes.

(Read the article here: Working or Playing Indoors, New Yorkers Face and Unabated Roar)

Statistics on Noise Induced Hearing Loss

• More than 30 million Americans are exposed to hazardous sound levels on a regular basis. (National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders)

• Of the 28 million Americans who have hearing loss, over one-third have been affected at least in part by noise. (ASHA)

• Excessive noise exposure is the most common cause of hearing loss. (American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery)

• Audiology experts agree that hearing loss in the United States is increasing. The number of Americans age 3 and older with some form of hearing disorder has more than doubled since 1971. (National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders)

• Noise-induced hearing loss affects people of all ages. U.S. government survey data revealed that 12.5% of children ages 6 to 19 (approximately 5.2 million children) have permanent damage to their ears' hair cells caused by exposure to loud noises. In addition 15.5% of children ages 12 to 19 had some hearing loss in one or both ears, highlighting the fact that noise-induced hearing loss grows more prevalent with age. (Niskar, 2001)

• Noise-induced hearing loss is also growing among baby boomers. Of the more than 75 million Americans born between 1945 and 1964, 20.4% or 16 million people have some degree of hearing loss. (National Center for Health Statistics)

Tips to Avoid Hearing Loss

From Dr. Sanjay Gupta

Everyone has done it: You need some momentum on the treadmill, so you crank up your iPod. Or you turn up your car stereo when you drive by a loud construction site or your favorite song comes on and then forget to turn it back down. It might sound obvious but exposing yourself to loud noises for a prolonged period of time may irreversibly damage your hearing. Your body can hear thanks to hair cells inside your ears that transform sound energy into electrical signals. Those signals get sent to your brain. Excessive sound energy damages those hair cells, eventually causing them to die. Our bodies don't regenerate new hair cells and the louder the noise, the more damage that can be done to them.

Here are a few tips to keep your hearing sharp.

TURN IT DOWN At maximum volume, the average MP3 player blares at an ear-splitting115 decibels. Compare that to the noise a power saw makes at about 110 decibels. The American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery says it only takes 100 decibels of sound for
15 minutes to cause permanent hearing damage. If someone an arm's length away can hear what is coming through your headphones, turn the volume down by at least 30 percent. You can also adjust the volume settings on your computer to 60 percent.

CANCEL OUT THE NOISE If you need to use headphones, noise-canceling headphones are a better option. When you block out background noise, it's easier to focus on what you're listening to. You'll find yourself turning up the volume a lot less. Background noise isn't something people often pay attention to, but a person's risk for hearing loss increases depending on how much background noise they are exposed to.

TAKE A BREAK How long you spend listening to a loud noise may also affect your hearing. Continually listening to loud music or being in a loud environment without ear protection for several hours may increase your risk of damage. Give your ears a break: wear ear protection or ear plugs, try to retreat to a quieter location for a few minutes every hour, and pause your music at least once every 90 minutes.

The main point to remember is that loud noise from any source, whether it's your car stereo or a power tool, for a prolonged period of time, will degenerate your hearing.

A new reason for hearing loss: Motorcycle Helmets

While we won't advocate not wearing your motorcycle helmet because of this, recent studies have found that they may be contributing to hearing loss.

While the roar of a motorcycle engine is loud, after scientists mapped the airflow over the riders' helmets, it was found that the biggest source of noise for motorcyclists is actually generated by AIR!  That air whooshing over the riders' heads can exceed safe levels even at legal speeds.

Now, scientists have identified a key source of the rushing din. Researchers from the University of Bath and Bath Spa University placed motorcycle helmets atop mannequin heads, mounted them in a wind tunnel and turned on the fans. By placing microphones at different locations aruond the helmet and at the mannequins' ear, the researchers found that an area underneath the helmet and near the chin bar is a significant sourse of noise that reaches the rider's sensitive eardrums. 

The team also investigated how helmet angle and wind speech affected the ludness. Future tests will move beyond the wind tunnel to real-life riders on the open road...findings may one day be used to design quieter helmets, saving riders' ears for the enjoyment of hard biker rock.  :)

So, while Kenwood is in the business of ears and hearing, we find it important to share this information with you - however we still choose protecting the brain with that helmet for now!

Source: The American Institute of Physics

How Loud is Too Loud?

For more than 75 years, May has been Better Speech and Hearing Month. According to the American Speech-Hearing-Language Association, it's a time to raise awareness about communication disorders, treatments and prevention.

The noise chart below lists average decibel levels for everyday sounds. Sounds that are louder than 85 dB can cause hearing loss after eight hours of exposure. The higher the decibel, the shorter the period of time it can take for hearing loss to occur.

Painful

• 150 dB = fireworks at 3 feet

• 140 dB = firearms, jet engine

• 130 dB = jackhammer

• 120 dB = jet plane takeoff, siren

Extremely loud

• 110 dB = maximum output of some MP3 players, model airplane, chain saw

• 106 dB = gas lawn mower, snowblower

• 100 dB = hand drill, pneumatic drill

• 90 dB = subway, passing motorcycle

Very loud

• 80-90 dB = blow-dryer, kitchen blender, food processor

• 70 dB = busy traffic, vacuum cleaner, alarm clock

Moderate

• 60 dB = typical conversation, dishwasher, clothes dryer

• 50 dB = moderate rainfall

• 40 dB = quiet room

Faint

• 30 dB = whisper, quiet library

Source: The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association website (www.asha.org)

Deborah J. Botti

How loud is too loud?

I wanna rock and roll all night...

...and party every day!

Remember that song? By American Rock Band KISS?

On Thursday, April 14th (that's tomorrow!) Paul Stanley (vocals and rhythm guitar) will appear on "The Doctors," a nationally syndicated TV medical talk show.  It is aired at 2pm in the Toledo area on NBC channel 24. (outside the Toledo area, please check local listings for times).

Mr. Stanley will discuss his work with the non-profit House Research Institute, his own hearing loss and his efforts to prevent noise-induced hearing loss among teens. They are working on a major initiave called "It's How You Listen that Counts," to educate millions of teens around the world on preventing noise-induced hearing loss. 

Together, they will be drawing the attention of teens in NYC and LA to hearing health issues through an after-school event called SOUND RULES!

The event, free for teens, will take place at the Director’s Guilds in NYC on May 4 and Los Angeles on May 12. 

Did You Know that Paul Stanley was born deaf in his right ear?

YOU are doing it better!

from The ASHA Leader, February 15, 2011

American adults hear better than their grandparents did at the ame age, according to a study in the December 2010 Ear and Hearing.

Researchers compared hearing data from two national surveys (1959-1962 and 1999-2004) and discovered that men and women todya across the age spectrum have better hearign then their counterparts decades earlier, primarily in the higher frequencies (2000-6000Hz), although hearing in the middle frequency of 1000Hz was roughly the same.

Although the cause for improvement is not clear, researchers noted a viariety of possible factors, including fewer perople who smoke, better health care for people with diabetes and cardiovascular disease, and better care for childhood otitis media.

In addition, vaccines developed in the intervening years protect children from rubella and meningitis. Researchers also noted a decline in noisy manufacturing jobs and an increase in workplace hearing consrvation programs.

The IncrediBATs: The Soundwaves are Coming: Preventing Noise-Induced Hearing Loss