Back-to-school is just around the corner, and perhaps your kids and teenagers have already joined a club sport or started an extracurricular activity. You want to set your kids up to succeed both in their activities and beyond, and in environments like these, that may mean being proactive about hearing protection.
Noise-Induced Hearing Loss in Teens
The most common cause of hearing loss is the natural process of aging, but the second-most common cause is exposure to loud noise, and it’s growing more common every year. It’s estimated that more than one in ten adolescents under the age of 19 have some degree of hearing damage from loud noise.
Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) can affect anyone at any age, and hearing damage from loud noise is permanent, so it’s critical to be vigilant at all ages. NIHL occurs when powerful sound waves bend or break the delicate sensory cells deep in the inner ear that transmit sound to the brain. This kind of damage can occur after one giant sound, such as a gunshot, or after prolonged, continuous exposure to elevated sound levels, such as loud music for hours at a time.
Noise Levels in Band Class
You probably know how loud your teen’s instrument can get from their at-home practicing; naturally, noise levels get up even higher when they’re in a big group. The good news is that, usually, band class has some built-in fail-safes that can prevent the majority of hearing damage:
- Class length. We touched on this above, but elevated sound levels (such as above 85 decibels but below 100) are dangerous when exposure is prolonged and continuous. For example, your blender can reach 85 decibels, but it would take about eight hours of nonstop blending to cause real hearing damage. Most class lengths are an hour in duration, which means your teen shouldn’t be exposed to the loud noise for the length of time required to cause lasting damage.
- Breaks. Furthermore, there will be breaks in the loud music throughout the course of the class. The band director will need to stop the band for instruction frequently, meaning the loud noise won’t be truly continuous.
- Acoustics. Many schools have a specially designed band room for band practice. These rooms often have high ceilings and sound-absorbing wall paddings, absorbing much of the harsh, loud sound. If these weren’t the conditions, sound waves would bounce all over the place, creating a loud, echoey cacophony.
That doesn’t mean that band members are completely safe from NIHL, however. Some music calls for extremely loud playing (in musical terms, this is called fortissimo), and of course, some teens love to goof off with their instruments. At excessive volumes, it takes less time for NIHL damage to occur.
Noise Levels in Esports
Esports are rising in popularity, especially among today’s high schoolers. Since this activity is still relatively new, it has fewer built-in guardrails against hearing loss, as its relationship to NIHL is not yet well established. Esports matches can last hours, unlike the class length of band, and they rely more on headphones, so room acoustics aren’t a factor.
Headphones can contribute more to NIHL than you may realize. Headphones can blast sound into our ears at extremely high levels, and if the headphones aren’t noise-canceling, your teen may be inclined to turn them up even higher in order to drown out background noise.
Encourage Your Teen to Protect Their Hearing
Hearing protection is critical during activities that reach high volume levels. Commonly, we recommend earplugs or earmuffs to dampen sound levels, but they aren’t quite as effective in these settings, especially in bands, as they can distort sound.
Instead, the most important hearing protection in band and esports is taking breaks and toning the volume down. Additionally, encourage your teen to download a sound-measuring app on their phone so they can keep an eye on noise levels around them. This kind of monitoring can give them the cues they need to take a break or tone down their practicing.
When wearing headphones, stick to the 60-60 rule: listen at 60% of max volume for no more than 60 minutes. Use noise-canceling headphones so they’re less likely to turn the volume up too high.
If your teen starts showing signs of hearing loss, bring them in for a hearing test. As stated above, NIHL is permanent, so catching it early in your child’s life can help them minimize further damage so they enjoy healthy hearing into adulthood and beyond.
Contact us at PDX ENT today to schedule an appointment.
