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Millions of older Americans battle hearing loss as they reach their golden years. But thanks to a
veritable electronics explosion, audiologists warn that today's children risk cumulative hearing
damage earlier in life than their parents or grandparents ever did.
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University of Florida audiologists say everything from noisy toys to iPods has the potential to cause gradual but permanent hearing damage in kids. To compete for youngsters' attention, dozens of toys for small children now emit bursts of sound louder than ninety-five decibels, nearly the volume of a chainsaw. Parents should occasionally commandeer their child's MPDž player headphones as well to be sure the volume isn't potentially damaging. In general, if you can hear music leaking out from someone's headphones, they're listening too loud. Even small adjustments in volume can make a big difference over the long-term.
Michelle Colburn / UF Doctor of Audiology
"If you take what we can listen to safely for eight hours, and you only increase that sound by five decibels, then you can only listen to it for four hours. Turn it up another five decibels and it goes down to two hours. So every time a sound goes up by five decibels, which isn't a lot, the amount of time you can safely listen to it cuts in half."
Experts say the growing popularity of NASCAR, drag-racing, and other loud spectator sports
often call for the use of hearing protection in children who attend these events. What qualifies as
'too loud'? If you have to shout to be heard while talking to someone next to you, bring out the ear
protection. Hearing experts say gradual hearing loss in children can lead to inattentiveness at
home or at school. This in turn is sometimes mistakenly diagnosed as attention deficit disorder,
making early protection even more important.
Michelle Colburn / UF Doctor of Audiology
"Noise-induced hearing loss is the only preventable form of hearing loss and we need to start educating our children at a very young age. And before they're even old enough to be educated about noise-induced hearing loss, we need to take the forefront in protecting our children's hearing so that they don't suffer the negative effects of hearing loss."
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At the University of Florida Health Science Center, I'm Mike Garrison
