With teenagers, many of us feel our conversations fall on deaf ears. I like to say that teens have developed “select hearing loss”; meaning, they only listen to what they want to hear. However, if your teen consistently seems to ignore your calls to come downstairs for dinner or if you find yourself repeating instructions, they could indeed have early hearing loss that needs medical attention.
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) almost 1 in 5 American teens (age 12 to 19) may have acquired hearing loss because of exposure to loud noises.
Noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) can be caused by a one-time exposure to an intense sound such as an explosion or by continuous exposure to loud noises over extended periods of time. Workplace Safety limits set by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (1998) limits noise to 85 decibels* for no more than eight hours. Long-term exposures to sounds below 75 decibels will not promote hearing loss.
Examples of everyday noises include:
Kitchen appliances (i.e. refrigerators) 45 decibels
Normal conversations 60 decibels (unless you are like my Aunt Claire and speak at 90 decibels!).
Portable devices such as iPods: 97 to 107 decibels.
Heavy city traffic and motorcycles 85-95 decibels.
A police siren (at close range) 120 decibels
Firecrackers and guns 150 decibels.
My husband’s sneeze over 90 decibels (I usually prepare myself by plugging my ears)!
Distance and duration are important factors in hearing protection. To keep it simple, the NIH recommends: avoid noises that are too loud, too close, or last too long.
For the kids: Many headphones claim they are safe for children because they limit volume. However, The Wirecutter found that half of 30 sets of children’s headphones tested failed to protect users from promised volume limits. Even more concerning, some headphones sounds were dangerously loud and within minutes could be harmful to healthy hearing.
Here are some tips for maintaining healthy hearing:
– Use noise cancelling headphones instead of cranking up the volume to ignore outside noise.
-Limit use of headphones to 60minutes a day
-Keep the headphone volume at 60 %
-Parents should not be able to hear noise of headphones.
-Earbuds may be even more harmful than using headphones. They are closer to the eardrum
-If a parent is an arm’s length away (2-3 feet), a child wearing headphones should still be able to hear them.
*Sound is measure in units called decibels.
As an fyi
My friend from New York puts in her earbuds so people “don’t bother” her. Do not turn the volume up so high that you cannot hear cars coming or horns honking. Be careful if walking with earbuds. If you are not in-tune with your environment, you are more likely to be involved in a fatal pedestrian accident. Numbers of fatal pedestrian accidents involving ear pieces has skyrocketed over the last several years.