Blaring
music is a standard teenage behavior, but chances are, your son or
daughter doesn’t realize the potential damage they’re doing to their
hearing. 81% of teens listen to music with earphones, but only 8% of
adolescents believe that
hearing loss is a major health concern.
And in fact, rates of hearing loss among teens today are about 30% higher than in the 1980s and 1990s. Also, 46% of
teens show potential signs of hearing loss
with occasional ringing, roaring, buzzing, or pain in their ears, and
one in six teens report that they experience hearing loss symptoms
some or all of the time.
Often,
teens don’t realize the dangers of hearing loss because they fail to
realize we only have a set number of hair cells in our ears. When sound
travels into our ear and vibrates through various passageways, it
ripples hair-like cells
in our inner ear. Excessive noise kills the hair cells, and when enough
of these hair cells die, we experience hearing loss.
Remind
your teen that at full volume, digital music devices can make as much
noise as a live rock concert, and it only takes eight minutes of
listening to music at a very high volume to cause hearing loss. You
should be able to hear someone
speak to you at a conversational level from about three feet away; if
you can’t, your headphones are too loud. You can also recommend the
60/60 rule to your teenager: listen to music for no more than 60 minutes
at a time and at no more than 60% volume. Finally,
caution your teenager against buying ear buds, which are closer to the
ear drum and can cause more hearing loss when used.
As
a parent, it’s your job to make sure that your teenager isn’t hurting
himself. Make sure that your teenager is well-aware of the dangers of
headphones so that they don’t run the risk of hearing loss, and who
knows? Maybe hearing loss
is the reason they haven’t been listening to you!
