Have you ever walked in the room to find your children (or spouse!) glued to the blaring television, oblivious to how loud they have it turned up? The phenomenon is called sensory adaptation. The brain becomes accustomed to the sound level and becomes less sensitive to it. Thus begins a very dangerous cycle where the listeners will keep turning it up, becoming desensitized to it, and turning it up more.
Damage from loud noises and sounds are time based. Extremely loud sounds can do damage almost immediately while loud music or audio from the television can damage your hearing the longer you’re exposed.
Teaching your children to protect their hearing should begin early.
- Learn together about the ear, how it works
- Discuss the causes of hearing damage and the science behind hearing loss
- Explain that, given our current knowledge, we can’t heal our hearing. Once it’s damaged, it’s damaged for good
- Model good behaviors by taking long listening breaks, turning down the TV, monitoring music levels, and wearing hearing protection
If you and your children regularly participate in loud activities (powersports, use of powertools, attending concerts, etc), consider having custom hearing protection professionally made. At Blount Hearing and Speech <we do great things to get you personalized hearing protection, earbuds, in ear monitors, etc etc etc>