Today's topic is safe listening habits, which is really really important in today's society. Here's a huge problem globally in terms of the impact of noise on hearing. For example, according to the World Health Organization, more than 43 million teens, aged 14 years and above and young adults around 35 years have disabling hearing loss due to a variety of factors. Over a billion young people are at risk of hearing loss because of unsafe listening habits. We know that 50 percent of teenagers and young adults in mid to high income countries listen to sound at unsafe levels, and 40 percent are exposed to unsafe levels in social environments such as restaurants, concerts, and the like. So noise exposure places individuals at risk for hearing loss. Importantly, the use of ear buds and headphones, coupled with increased screen time can result in hearing loss in children. Part of the problem is ear buds and headphones direct the sound directly into the ear and make the hearing more likely to get damaged. Fortunately, there are some recommendations about safe listening habits. We measure sound in a unit called the decibel. For looking at levels of sound in environments, we use an A-weighted decibel scale, which expresses the relative loudness of sound as perceived by our ears. We know that as a level of sound increases, so does the risk of harm in terms of noise-induced hearing loss. What's really cool now is that there are a number of decibel reading apps available for smartphones. These apps show how noise fluctuates in real time, and some will even allow you to geotag the decibel level to a location. So for example, if you're in a noisy restaurant, you can measure the sound level of the restaurant and then tag that restaurant in terms of dB level so that others will know that it's a loud place. There are a number of factors that affect whether noise is going to result in hearing loss. For example, we're concerned about how loud the sound is in decibels. We know that many devices that children use have levels that are not safe. For example, smart phones and iPads. Also, we know that how close you are with the source of a sound impacts your likelihood of getting hearing loss from noise. The further away you are from the sound, the better. Then also the length of time you are exposed to a sound impacts its safety. We know that the impact of noise adds up over a lifetime, which is something important to think about. We know that sounds at or below 70 decibels in the A-weighted scale are considered to be safe. Conversational speech is about 60 decibels. So how loud is too loud? I'm going to go over some examples of duration and intensity level, and using some real life examples. So for 115 decibel sound, the safe limit is 28 seconds, which is pretty brief. By way of example, a firecracker or short gun has about 140 to 160 decibel level. A jet taking off is about 140 decibels, and an ambulance siren or thunderclap is about 120 decibels. So for sounds greater than 110 decibels but less than 115 decibels, one minute is the safe listening level. Interestingly, jackhammers, rock concerts, and even symphony orchestras can have sound levels as high as 110 decibels. Think about how much time you might spend in some of those venues. For 100 decibel and less than 110, 15 minutes is considered to be safe and personal listening devices, set at maximum volume are about 100 decibels. Then some regular environmental sounds, for sounds greater than 70 but less than 100, a 24-hour period is safe. By way of example, subway platform noise is about 95, heavy traffic or school cafeteria is about 85, dishwasher, 75 and a hairdryer or vacuum cleaner, about 70 decibels. There are things individuals can do to limit their likelihood of getting hearing loss as a result of noise exposure. First, you can wear earplugs when you know you're going to be doing something that's noisy, for example, mowing the lawn. You can also turn down the volume of your personal listening devices and other things, televisions, for example. You can use noise canceling earphones which is a great idea if you're on an airplane, and you can have respect and monitor safe listening levels. I think there are a lot of individuals, particularly young people who are not at all worried about their devices causing hearing loss. But we know that young people are spending more time in noisy environments and are using earbuds and headphones, which puts them at greater risk. We also could limit the time spent in noisy activities and heed warning signs of hearing loss. So for example, one of the warning signs is developing noises in your ears called tinnitus. So if you have something like that, then it's important to pay attention and get regular hearing checkups. There are things that others can do as well. So for example, parents need to play an active role in educating children about safe listening, monitoring the noise exposure of children. Kids these days are often exposed to the use of earphones or earbuds in school when they're working on computers. So if you keep in mind that they're spending time doing that during the day at school, and then maybe coming home and watching TV or playing video games, the accumulation of sound over time can be excessive. Then importantly, parents need to serve as a role model of safe listening. So if parents are listening to very loud sounds or for a long period of time, they are actually demonstrating bad behavior for their children. Teachers also can play a role by educating students about the misuse of personal audio devices and encouraging the use of safe listening habits. Physicians and other health providers also have role in helping spread the word and monitoring children's hearing. There are some additional things that can be done. For example, managers of venues can ensure personal safety by monitoring and applying safe noise levels in their establishments. They can use sound limiters to keep the level safe. They can also provide free earplugs to people attending concerts or other events, and they can provide chill out rooms with safe listening levels, so people can take a break from the loud sounds. Also, manufacturers of devices can limit output levels. There's a lot of pressure on makers of personal listening devices to limit the output levels to be safe. Governments also can raise awareness and develop stricter laws regarding non-occupational noise. They've done a pretty good job with defining what safe levels are for occupational noise exposure, but not so much for non-occupational noise exposure. There is a whole host of excellent online tools that are available surrounding this topic. The World Health Organization site has a campaign currently called Make Listening Safe. The Hearing Health Foundation has a campaign called Noise is a Silent Killer. Other Centers for Disease Control has campaign called Listen Up, Protect Your Hearing. The National Institutes of Health campaign is called, It's a Noisy Planet, Protect Their Hearing. Finally, the American Speech-Language Hearing Association has a new campaign called the Healthy Communication & Popular Technology Initiative. I encourage you to check out these websites, and thank you so much for your attention.
