Do you remember when you go to the doctor for a physical and they check your hearing by having you raise your hand if you hear a beep? The doctor tests our signal detection; our ability to detect sounds under different conditions. Doctors test for hearing in kids and teens especially because they are more exposed to loud noises (such as loud music). A study that took place at Harvard says that one in five teens lose part of their hearing due to exposure to loud music. According to the National Institute of Health, the louder the sound, the shorter the time period before loss of hearing can occur (noise-induced hearing loss). However, most cases of hearing loss are due to age; the older you get the harder it gets for you to hear. And hearing loss can be caused by loss of sensory cells or the weakening of the hearing nerve. I have examples of natural hear loss in my own family; my mom and dad are getting older and I find myself repeating myself two or three times before they actually understand what I am trying to say. Another example is just the volume of the TV when I am watching TV compared to the volume when my parents are watching TV. My parents watch TV at a higher volume than I do because they are slowly losing their sensory cells. In conclusion, we really need to be careful about the noises and frequencies we are exposed to because they can cause permanent damage.
Can You Turn Up The Volume?
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How do you think hearing loss impacts our perception of the world? Be sure to include the links to what you are citing at the end of you post.
This is very relatable to the situation I was in tonight as I was sitting on the couch with my parents trying to enjoy the bodyguard with Whit Houston in it while my parents had the volume cranked up to obnoxiously loud levels. I think I asked them every ten minutes to turn it down again because they kept secretly turning it back up. I never actually thought through why they needed the sound so much louder than I did, but it totally makes sense after reading this and learning that the older you get, the more your hearing senses die off. And on top of that the exposure to loud music my parents have had their entire lives is insane. The mixture of both makes it very difficult to watch TV enjoyably with them. I wonder if its solely controlling the volumes at which one listens to music/tv/other things that would help save our ears from decreasing in hearing abilities in our futures, or if there is another way to protect from the damage that can be done to our hearing.
This is something that I notice in my life too. My parents ask my to turn up the volume on the TV all the time. But I definitely agree with your statement that we need to be more aware of how loud we are listening to things, such as our iPods. It is very annoying to be sitting somewhere and you can hear the song that the person next to you, or even a few people down from you, is listening to on their iPod. I always wonder how they don't realize that their music is that loud, and how bad it must be for their ears.
I like how someone brought up volume for this weeks blog discussion because coincidentally I've been actively trying to manage healthy listening volumes when I'm using the television, radio, or headphones. I am confident that because I have been lowering the volume for everything that my hearing has gotten better. I now listen to music comfortably at level 1 on my computer with headphones and seem to not be needing the TV as loud. I am a huge movie and music lover, and I'd hate to not be able to enjoy both of them comfortably for my entire life.
I wonder if there is a way to not lose our sensory cells. Yes we can listen to music at low levels and take steps to keep our hearing healthy, but what if there was some type of nutrient or therapy so that we can keep our hearing long into growing old.
I definitely agree that loud music causes hearing loss. With speakers and headphones getting more and more powerful each year and the volume going up to drown everything else out it is evident that teens today are experiencing hearing loss more and more frequently. At least for the benefit of all those that will be deaf the sound systems keep getting louder.
I think this topic is really interesting considering how often teens are exposed to loud music now. I know I personally cannot go anywhere on campus without my IPod, so this is definitely something I'm worried about! I read in this article (http://children.webmd.com/news/20100817/hearing-loss-in-teens-is-on-the-rise) that hearing loss has risen from one in seven teens to five in one teens. The article also talks about how teens who are below the federal poverty level are also more at risk for hearing loss.
I've been in marching band, and now am involved in Drumline and Drum Corps. I don't know if it's because of these activities directly, but I have found that I am sometimes harder of hearing. In these activities it's up to the members to provide hearing protection if they want it, and since many of the members are younger, they aren't always going to be thinking of their ears and how this will affect them in about 20 years.
I'm in the marching band here at the U, and a study was performed a few years ago about hearing loss being tied to marching band members (because of the loud music being played) It was interesting to find that those involved in the marching band did not have any hearing loss/damage, but instead their hearing is better than those not involved in marching band. Maybe the test wasn't accurately performed, but I just thought this would tie in nicely to your blog. I'm sure though, that being exposed to loud noises/music for long periods of time throughout ones lifespan would cause hearing loss/damage though.