Noise-Induced Hearing Loss in Children The Silent Epidemic

While age-related hearing loss, or presbycusis, is the number one cause of hearing loss in America, a cause that’s been climbing the ranks in recent years is noise exposure.  

Repeated exposure to loud noise, whether through isolated loud blasts of sound or continued exposure over an extended period, has become the second most common cause of hearing loss challenges in people of all ages. 

Is your child spending a lot of time playing video games with their headphones on, or listening to the TV or music with the volume turned up loud? Excessive noise exposure could lead to hearing loss challenges sooner than you or your child might think. 

Why Is Our Children’s Hearing at Risk? 

We measure sound in decibels (dB). From the leaves rustling to a rocket taking off, everything has a level of sound that’s measurable—and you might be surprised by some of the numbers! 

For example, which do you think is louder: a blender, a gunshot, or a rock concert? 

A gunshot is the loudest at 140 dB, and it’s one sudden instance of noise that can cause immediate damage. A rock concert, at 120 dB, isn’t as bad, but most concerts last three hours at a time. Imagine blasting your ears with something just shy of gunshot noises for three hours… Ouch! 

A blender is just 95 dB, but any sound over 85 dB can be harmful to our ears. Even a hairdryer can hurt our hearing with prolonged use. 

Volume + Duration = Damage. The longer that your child listens to loud noise, the more damage they can cause to their hearing without even noticing. 

How Can I Help My Child’s Hearing? 

As parents ourselves, we know how concerning it is to feel that your child is struggling. None of us want to be uncool parents and tell our kids to turn the volume down, but for the sake of their hearing, it might be necessary.