Hearing loss could threaten music-loving generation
By Aisha Ali
Turn that down yo!
HUH? WHAT? WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!
Hearing loss is more common than ever before. According to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, nearly one in five American teenagers now suffers from some type of hearing loss, an increase of 31% since the mid-’90s. But, why is this happening? There is a wide range of causes that can be linked to hearing loss. Prolonged exposure to blasting music via earphones is one of these causes.
The world is getting increasingly noisy. It’s getting harder and harder to listen clearly. And so many people take refuge from the cacophony by using earphones. Many Lane students can be seen with flashy headphones walking in the halls during passing periods. But what many people do not realize is that they are straining their ears when blasting music.
“I like to hear the bass of the music so I have big headphones that I carry when I travel,” said Kristina Guccione, Div. 385.” I like how you can hear the pounding and the bass, that’s my favorite thing about them.”
Media outlets promote the use of earphones by showing catchy advertisements with pop stars that show how to look “cool”, in turn attracting the attention of teenagers. Suddenly everybody wants the new earphones, everybody has them. Now big headphones are looked upon in a positive light, but are they really safer than ear buds?
“When you have ear buds it’s like the music is really going right into your ear. With bigger headphones it’s more around your ear and its blocking out the other noise so you don’t necessarily have to listen to it that loud,” said Benjamin Vega, Div. 380.
Ms. Malinowski, a deaf and hard of hearing teacher at Lane, also believes that headphones are the better option.
“When you have those ear buds in, its shooting directly to your eardrum. The louder it is the more the vibration of the bones in the ear. With headphones, there’s a way for some of the sound to escape or its muffled it’s not a straight shot to your ear drum.”
She believes that technology has improved the sound quality which results in louder levels in music leading to potential hearing loss.
“What happens when there’s over exposure to loud music these little tiny bones in the ear will start to callous. when they callous they don’t pick up the vibration that they normally would,” she said.
The high frequency sounds are generally the first sounds that people start to lose. “Slight,” hearing loss is defined as inability to hear at 16 to 24 decibels — or sounds such as a whisper or rustling leaves.
Continuous exposure to loud music is, “almost like continuously using a muscle,” Ms. Malinowski said. “The muscle is going to be sore if you don’t rest it. You’re probably going to damage it. If you pull a muscle you ice it and it’ll mend itself. If you don’t take care of it that muscle’s going to rip and tear and you’re going to create more damage. Likewise, when you consistently expose your ears to loud sounds or vibrations over extended periods of time the bones aren’t going to pick up the vibrations as easily as they did.”
A male junior that wishes to remain anonymous because he thinks others look down on individuals with hearing aids, says people are not appreciating what they have.
“I think people are taking everything for granted. I mean I would too. You don’t realize what you have until you lose it, because I was five when I lost it. I just remember being able to hear everything perfectly and now its different. I didn’t feel the change.”
Although he did not lose hearing due to the extensive use of earphones, he knows how it feels to lose an important sense. He has experienced using hearing aids and having to read lips and reading subtitles. He knows how it feels.
“Its like losing an arm, sometimes there’s nothing you can do about it. A fake arm will only help you so far. That’s how I feel, hearing aids will help you so much but it wont make it better. They aren’t like glasses, once you put them on you see perfect.”
“You have to be thankful for everything you have, like I’m thankful for my hair, there are people losing hair. You gotta realize what you have even if you haven’t lost it yet,” he said.
Another student who has lost their hearing is Hannah Fropolly Div 265. She lost her hearing genetically at the age of 1 and currently wears a cochlear implant.
“My advice to others is: be happy you can hear. Embrace that gift,” Fropolly said.
So the next time you can hear someone’s music playing, tell them to turn it down. Although they may hate you, you’re actually doing them a big favor.
