New look for ‘tweens: earplugs?
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The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders has noticed that kids between ages 8 and 12 -- ‘tweens -- live in a noisy world, and has launched a campaign to get them to dial down the noise and preserve their hearing.
Most normal MP3 players can pump out the volume as high as 105 decibels, and kids commonly listen to them at 85 decibels -- a level that researchers have found may cause hearing loss with regular exposure. Also, did you know that excessive noise levels contribute to stress, headaches and concentration problems? The NIDCD’s advice to ‘tweens: Turn the sources of noise down, turn them off, limit them to one at a time -- since many noises are additive -- and carry and wear earplugs when lots of noise is unavoidable.
The campaign‘s website shows kid-friendly hearing protectors to suit every kid’s style: low-key, stylin’, outrageous. And it gives the ‘tweeners some snappy comebacks for when their friends ask them why they’re wearing earplugs.
The campaign’s sponsors say they were prompted to target ‘tweens and teens after a survey of MTV viewers found that, though most rated hearing loss as a concern somewhere lower than sexually transmitted diseases and acne, two-thirds said they might consider wearing hearing protection if they knew they were at risk of permanent hearing loss. The sponsors are counting on a generation accustomed to routine use of all sorts of protective gear, from seat belts to bicycle helmets to shin pads, to adopt protective gear for their ears, too.
I share my world with some ‘tweens, and I can tell you, the good folks at NICDC are right: It IS a noisy world (and I, too, have noticed the connection between excessive noise and headache, stress and poor concentration). What with the simultaneous output of radio, television, computer games, dog and kids, I know I must be one of the more than 26 million American adults who have already sustained hearing loss. (OK, it might also have something to do with my having exposed the tiny sensory cells of my inner ear to live performances by the Rolling Stones, the Who, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull and the Allman Brothers. You know that once damaged, they can never grow back? Bummer!)
I know another thing from sharing my world with children of the NIDCD’s target demographic: making earplugs stylish is about as unlikely as getting these kids to tune into one medium at a time. But it’s probably worth a try, because in a few years’ time, the ear-bud generation is going to discover what the baby boomers are now beginning to realize: It’s pretty hard to look stylin’ with a hearing aid in your ear.
Just ask James Taylor. I saw him the other night on The Colbert Report. He was wearing a suit and tie -- and a hearing aid. For once, I didn’t have to turn up the volume to hear him sing, since the ‘tweens had turned off their noise machines and gone to sleep.
-- Melissa Healy
