From one of my recent Google Alerts:
Protecting kids' hearing starts when they're babies , by Angele Sionna:
"...For children even a mild hearing loss can lead to significant developmental problems related to speech and language development, social development and academic success," says [audiologist Pamela] Mason. "Classrooms are poor acoustic environments and are often noisy with activities, this environment is difficult to learn in especially if you have a mild hearing loss."
So how do you avoid hearing loss in children? By starting when kids are babies and toddlers, teaching to keep music, TV and other things should be kept at a decent level.
A note at the end of the article mentions that musician Justin Roberts will give the first "Listen To Your Buds" concert on November 19 at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Illinois.
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14 comments:
Oh, my, did you see the little game on the "Listen to Your Buds" site where you catch balls in a weird bucket to make a noise? It's oddly satisfying, even if it makes no sense.
I remember taking the LSG to see the animated movie Tarzan when she was little and being so worried about the loud THX sound system that I got her ear plugs to wear during the movie. I am a touch more relaxed now...
Infant hearing loss could just be a result of a birth defect. There are also certain infections that the mother could have during pregnancy which can predispose the child to infant hearing loss. new research presented in the Lancet Medical Journal confirms that newborn screening for infant hearing loss can significantly impact a child’s development. If infant hearing loss is detected early and interventions are begun before 6 months of age, children with hearing loss can develop language, cognitive and speech skills. Visit the website to know more http://metabolicmedicine.com/story_638.html
Adrienne: I just saw the game where you shoot noisy flying things until it gets so loud that the game stops-- I'm video-game challenged, so it made my teeth chatter right off from the start!
LSM: I've not taken my daughter to a movie theatre yet, but I have noticed how loud the previews are in comparison to the main movie.
Sophia: Thanks for all that good information. My daughter had her hearing tested three times before she turned five (because of her eye issues, she was red-flagged for hearing tests), and I'm glad we had them. Sometimes that selective hearing can make a parent think, "Is she tuning me out or does she really not hear me?"
Thanks for posting about this. I hope they start lowering the highest volume kids can put on an ipod or all the headphones.
I don't let my kids use ear buds, though finding headphones is a pain.And I try to make sure they keep the volume low.
Sadly, I'm betting that a lot of current IPod addicted 20somethings are going to need hearing aids when they are my age. Whereas I once took an on-line hearing test that showed I can still hear high pitched frequencies a lot of people stop hearing after their teens!
Found a link for this sort of test.
I can hear all the frequencies, and he's right, if you don't keep the volume down it will hurt your ears:
http://saunderslog.com/2006/06/12/the-mosquito-ring-tone-this-adult-can-hear-it/
Vivian: I know that one can program an iPod not to go above a certain volume.
Library Lady: I do wish I hadn't been too cool to wear earplugs at those concerts I went to as a teen. I am really sensitive to high-pitched sounds like the dog whistle on the end of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper album and (in the old days) tvs that aren't turned all the way off.
That reminds me... we have a lot of stereos on wheels drive down our street. The music shakes the windows sometimes. I'm guessing that the drivers already have significant hearing loss, hence the need to blast the music louder.
P.S. LL, that mosquito ring tone sounds like the old tvs that weren't turned off. It's pretty clever, though, to have a ring tone that many adults allegedly can't hear-- clever until you get the no-nonsense teacher with the acute hearing!
My hearing is acute on the high pitched sounds too. Back when computer monitors buzzed if you left them on when the computer was off, I'd walk into my children's room and say "the monitor's on on the Apple II". The staff wouldn't have heard it, but I always did.
I wonder if the noise sensitivity is why I startle so easily. Something my brother and my darling spouse have both enjoyed exploiting...
Lol - how do you protect against over-enthusiastic sibling toddlers who are just discovering drums and other musical instruments??? This morning, Wombat located my old recorder - poor Munchkin (and Mummy)!!!
Schelle: That's hard, because toddlers don't get quiet. There's loud, and then there's whispering very, very loudly! We did okay in our house-- Lucia had a little guitar, and I could open-tune it to a G or A minor so that it would sound pleasing to the ear when she strummed. :) What I find really hard to take are electronic toys. Why are they even being manufactured still? My friends say that their relatives give the kids the toys as if that's the end of the matter. Grasp the screwdriver! Remove the batteries! (Exclamation points are warranted here.)
I just saw a three year old with an iPod...
Years ago my older daughter got a talking "Arthur" that mysteriously stopped talking somewhere on the New Jersey Turnpike. Heh,heh,heh....
(He's now hung up on a wall in my children's room along with a Madeline, Clifford, Pooh and Paddington. And he still doesn't talk....)
I wish I'd done the same to a talking "Little Bear" she got later. Occasionally, she'd roll over onto it in the middle of the night and activate it. It's unnerving to hear a toy giggling in the middle of the night :)
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