Hearing loss is one of the most common chronic health conditions in America, and not all of it is preventable. But too often, people of all ages — including children and teenagers — suffer noise-induced hearing damage.
This damage could be prevented if they reduced their exposure to excessively loud noise from TVs, electronic devices, power tools, concerts, sporting events and other sources.
That’s the message from the audiologists and speech therapists at the Charity League Hearing and Speech Center at Children’s of Alabama.
The hearing and speech team is dedicated to providing expert diagnostic and rehabilitative speech-language and audiology services for pediatric patients.
The team members “show up every day to make a difference for a child,” says Audiology Supervisor Missy Kemp.
If spoken language is the parents’ goal for their child, she and her team want to help the child achieve that goal. “We like to see a child who is hearing impaired be able to talk, go to school and be successful just like their hearing peers,” Kemp says. “We can make a difference in somebody’s life.”
Noise-induced hearing damage occurs when we “listen to something too loud for too long,” Kemp says.
An estimated 12.5% of children between the ages of 6 and 19 have hearing loss caused by excessive noise, according to the CDC.
Noise-induced hearing damage is also permanent. “Once you lose hearing, it doesn't come back,” Kemp says.
Children’s offers these tips for parents to help prevent noise-induced hearing loss.
Children should wear earplugs or ear muffs when they’re in a noisy setting, like a fireworks show. This includes infants, toddlers, older children and adolescents.
Parents should monitor the use of loud toys by infants and toddlers, since many products exceed safe noise levels. They can make the toys safer by removing the batteries or putting tape over the speaker to dampen the sound.
Children should be taught to listen to their personal technology devices safely, especially when using earbuds or headphones. “We recommend keeping the volume at about 60%, which is a normal conversation level,” Kemp says.
People can also download a sound level meter to their smartphone using a variety of apps, allowing them to determine if a sound — from a toy, for example — is too loud, she says.
The Charity League Hearing and Speech Center has a staff of about 50 at four locations, including Childrens on 3rd, Children's on Lakeshore and Children’s South.
This includes audiologists, who can diagnose hearing loss and recommend the use of hearing aids or cochlear implants.
Such assessments can be critical, because children with untreated hearing loss often experience academic, social and behavioral problems.
In infants and toddlers, unaddressed hearing loss can permanently hamper their development because the pathways in their brains that process speech and language may not be properly stimulated, Kemp says.
This makes it difficult for them to develop speech and language later, even if their hearing problem is addressed.
“Studies show those kids tend to never catch up to their peers, so early intervention is key,” Kemp says.
“We encourage parents and pediatricians to make sure that children are meeting their speech and language milestones,” she says.
For more information about the center, call205-638-3680 or go to childrensal.org/services/hearing-and-speech.
