Jul 17, 2024
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Lori Lovato MA, FAAA, Audiologist
Turn Down the Volume! Noise-Induced Hearing Loss in Children
When you think of hearing loss, what kind of person do you think of? Perhaps your parents, turning up the volume on the TV, or your grandparents, trying to hear the family around the dinner table.
We don’t often think of children with hearing loss. For many of us, we don’t worry about hearing loss challenges until we reach a certain age.
However, the reality is that many children across the globe deal with hearing loss each day—and if you’re reading this, maybe you’re concerned about your child’s hearing, too.
Why Is Children’s Hearing at Risk?
When we see noise-induced hearing loss, we often think of a loud blast of sound that physically damages the eardrum—like those scenes in movies where there’s an explosion and the hearing damage is represented by a high-pitched ringing noise that drowns out all other sound.
That is one way to sustain noise-induced hearing loss, but it’s not the most common way. (Thank goodness!)
Most noise-induced hearing loss is due to the cumulative effects of excessive noise exposure. Think of all the concerts you went to back in the day and came back from with ringing ears…
We measure sound in decibels (dB). Even a few decibels above 85 dB can damage your hearing. For a more relatable comparison, the Apple Airpods Max can reach a maximum volume of 100 dB—just 20 minutes of exposure can damage your ears.
How long do your children sit and watch TV after school? Do they play games with their friends, or play instruments? All of these things can, eventually, damage their hearing. Ear protection can provide a lot of help to safeguard your child’s ears.
With more and more children watching TV or playing games, noise-induced hearing loss has become the second most common cause of hearing loss challenges, after old age.
No child is going to listen when you tell them to turn the volume down—trust us, we know!—but it’s important to make your children aware of the damage that hearing loss can bring to their ears. With proper care and by keeping the volume to correct levels, your children can keep playing their games and watching their videos, just a little bit more quietly than before.
Concerned About Their Hearing?
As parents, we know that there’s nothing more important or fragile than your child’s health. While we understand the urge to panic and think the worst, there are reasons outside of hearing loss that could be behind your child’s hearing challenges.
However, we’re happy to help alleviate some of those worries with a comprehensive hearing assessment, tailored to help your child be as comfortable as possible. We’ll work with you to make sure your child remains low-stress throughout the visit, and we can talk next steps regarding their hearing.
For more information about hearing loss or to chat with a professional about your child’s ears, please feel free to request a callback and we’ll get in touch with you as soon as we can.
Don’t want to wait? Call us at (206) 246-8677.
Lori Lovato MA, FAAA, Audiologist
Lori is a lifelong resident of the Tri-Cities. She and her husband Anthony are proud to be raising their family here. She attended Washington State University where she received a bachelor’s degree in speech and hearing sciences and her master’s degree in audiology. Lori began practicing audiology in the Tri-Cities in 1993. During this time, she has worked in a variety of clinical settings, including private practice and ear, nose, and throat physicians’ offices. She has spent her career focused on assisting those with hearing difficulties through the use of hearing aids, listening strategies, assistive devices, and counseling. She is experienced in working with both adult and pediatric patients. It is important to Lori to develop close relationships with each and every patient, as she helps them develop better communication strategies to live a fuller life.
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