This week my column addresses hearing loss. You might be asking why a youth column would focus on an issue which is often associated with the elderly. In reality, many youth are diagnosed with noise-induced hearing problems.
According to a 2010 study, Change in Prevalence of Hearing Loss in U.S. Adolescents, hearing loss in youth “can compromise social development, communication skills, and educational achievement. Risk factors, such as loud sound exposure from music listening, may be of particular importance to adolescents as well.”
A 2008 survey of 150 Ontario students, conducted by The Hearing Foundation of Canada, found that 30 per cent of youth listen to music at dangerously high volumes. Considering the fact that most teens are plugged into their MP3 players, these statistics are not a surprise.
But it isn’t just high volume music that is the culprit. According to the Centre for Disease Control’s web page on noise-induced hearing loss, exposure to “chainsaws, loud rock concerts, firecrackers and ambulance sirens” may also cause hearing problems.
Experts say that turning up the volume on your MP3 player in order to drown out external noises is also a big no-no. Signs that one has hearing loss include muffled hearing, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), and a hard time hearing the phone, doorbell, or birds, according to the CDC. Consulting an audiologist for a hearing test if one experiences any of the above symptoms, is imperative.
When listening to music or sounds of any type, one should not only consider the decibel range, but also the duration that one spends listening to high-decibel sounds. Anything above 85 decibels for extended time periods can cause ear damage. Hence, students should consider using ear plugs in shop class or music class.
I have often been in the presence of students who have music blaring in their headphones and are oblivious to the ruckus that they are causing for those around them. The idea of excessively loud music is obviously not new. For all those ’70s and ’80s teens with their boom-boxes and the ’90s teens with their stereos, listening to music loudly is often portrayed as a necessary part of adolescence.
I admit that I am an occasional victim of this behaviour. But what concerns me is a generation that has the convenience of small MP3 players and headphones that are attached to their ears for hours on end.
As any high school teacher can attest, the struggles of convincing a student to just abandon his or her music device for the duration of a class that lasts just over an hour is often too much of an undertaking. For parents of younger children, they may want to cap the volume on their child’s MP3 player by accessing the settings.
Like anything in the world of technology, if used with care, it can often bring many benefits. Thousands of songs in the palm of one’s hand is something I would definitely call a benefit.
At the end of the day, however, the responsibility to use technology with care is literally in the hands of the user. And let me say it loud and clear: It is time for all of our music listeners, especially our youth, to lower the volume and proceed with caution in high-volume environments.
If you would like to learn more about the problem of noise-induced hearing loss, you can visit the CDC website at www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/noise/signs.htm
Japreet Lehal is a student at Simon Fraser University Surrey. He writes regularly for The Leader.