Dangerous Decibels
From iPods" to cell phones, ear buds are suddenly sprouting up all over. The tiny transmitters that nest inside the ear pack a lot of sound, and high volume and overuse can blossom into a serious hearing problem.
Parents have long known that loud noises can harm their child's hearing. But the often overlooked part of the equation is duration: The length of time a child is exposed to loudness is just as important.
A Cumulative Danger
"It's not just volume level that gets you into trouble, but it's your noise dose for the day," says Wendy Steuerwald, MS, clinical manager of audiology at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
"If you're listening to loud music, then mowing the grass and using a leaf blower, all that counts. And some people even put headphones on to drown out equipment noise, so the music has to be at a very dangerous level, maybe 120 decibels, to be heard. That's as loud as a jet plane taking off. At that level, you can have hearing loss in about five minutes," she explains.
Increasingly, physicians are seeing "old ears" on young heads. One study at the Oregon Health and Science Tinnitus Clinic showed that 16 percent of patients 6 to 19 years old had early signs of noise-induced hearing loss.
Some parents are especially concerned about ear buds. "The closer the transducer is to the eardrum, the more potential there is for loudness," Ms. Steuerwald says.
Safe Strategies
Many new music players have a lock so parents can set the maximum volume, but parents also need to discuss the time their children spend listening to music. "It may be the right volume level, but not for 12 hours a day," Ms. Steuerwald notes. Researchers have found that when people play an MP3 player at 60 percent of its potential volume, they can listen safely for an hour with headphones.
"Anyone who uses an MP3 player should have an annual hearing test," she says, "because hearing loss is typically gradual and symptomless. We can also do a Real Ear evaluation of the MP3 player to measure how much sound it produces at the eardrum. It's an easy, painless test.
"It takes into account all the different variables of the individual's own music player, like the volume level of the transducer, and the shape of their ears. It's an objective measure for parents and children to know how loud the music really is." It's easy to schedule the 15-minute test, which costs $20, by calling the Division of Audiology at Cincinnati Children's at 513-636-4236.
"We live in a noisy society, and we don't let our ears 'rest.' We go from one noisy thing to another, and a lot of time we don't know there's damage done until it's too late to do anything about it. If our ears bled when they hurt, maybe we'd stop."
Hearing damage, especially the inability to hear higher frequencies, can show up as a ringing or buzzing in the ears, as well as difficulty in following conversations in noisy situations. "If that happens," Ms. Steuerwald advises, "move your child away from the noise source and get those ears checked."
Learn More Online
- In March, Apple announced a free download for its iPod nano and fifth-generation iPod that enables parents to use a combination code to create a volume cap and lock it in. To check it out, visit their web site.
- Dangerous Decibels is a public health campaign designed to reduce the incidence and prevalence of Noise Induced Hearing Loss and tinnitus (ringing in the ear) by changing knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of school-aged children. Their virtual exhibit adresses the sources and effects of listening to dangerous sounds, how to protect yourself from dangerous noise - all in a fun way.
