(WNDU) – 26 million men and women have difficulty hearing.
The impact of hearing loss can be profound. It can lead to loss of communication, social isolation and even increased risk of dementia.
But did you know that teenagers, even toddlers, can experience noise-induced hearing loss?
In fact, more than 5 million children between the ages of 6 and 19 are affected by it. And for them, it can lead to depression, isolation and even delayed language development.
So what can you do to protect your children?
Does your child have selective hearing, or could they possibly have an early onset hearing loss?
Normal everyday activities can cause noise-induced hearing loss in children.
“Shooting firearms without hearing protection, playing in a rock band, listening to your headphones too loud for too long actually risks some people losing access to sounds they need to be able to hear for language development,” says Dr. Brian Fligor, a pediatric audiologist at Tobias and Battite Hearing Wellness.
Dr. Fligor said noise above 75 decibels can begin to damage a child’s hearing. Normal conversation is 60 decibels. But Dr. Fligor believes that a constant noise from hair dryers may be the reason for it.
Motorcycles, music, sirens and fireworks can cause irreversible damage. It could be a problem if you notice that your child has difficulty hearing soft or faint sounds, if they complain that conversations are muffled, if they ask you to repeat things and…
“So, one of the first things that a child will report if there are any concerns about hearing loss is that they will have a ringing, buzzing, hissing sound in their ears,” said Dr. Tabs.
So it is up to parents to protect their children. Most importantly, if you think there is a problem, get your child’s hearing checked with their doctor.
A common myth is that parents think that if they can hear the music coming out of their child’s headphones… it’s too loud. When you don’t actually need to hear it for it to already damage your children’s hearing.
And remember that not all hearing loss is permanent. It can also be caused by excess wax in the ears, an infection or head trauma.
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