This week I’ve been thinking a lot about football, both collegiate and professional.  After all, we are now in the early season for both, and there’s plenty of excitement for everybody as our favorite teams play rivals!  What teams will make it to the end and be “crowned” champs?

The other reason I’ve been thinking about football revolves around the posts I’ve seen on social media – you know the ones, where parents and grandparents have posted pictures of their beautiful children and grandchildren at the games, from infants to toddlers and young children.  Usually, these beautiful youngsters are dressed in the colors and costumes representing their family’s teams.  Then, I was thinking about the noise at the stadiums and how I had been overwhelmed by it as an adult. How do you think a child (of any age) might be affected?

In my city, this weekend was one where the Guinness people (the ones who determine whether records have been broken) were in town to measure the sound at our home game to see if our stadium would break the record - be louder than any other team’s stadium.  The record was said to be equivalent to a jet engine taking off in decibels, around 136 decibels.   The CDC tells us a person with hearing hears sounds 0-140 decibels: greater than 90 decibels might cause pain.  That being said, a rock concert may weigh in at 110 decibels, and once they are greater than 120 decibels, not only is the sound painful but also can actually result in permanent hearing loss!   Here’s a link to a great video explaining this: http://www.asha.org/Buds/How-the-Ear-Works/

While the attendants were certainly primarily adult, there were some children seen as the camera scanned the crowd. 

So I was wondering: what (if anything) has been done to protect the hearing of these youngsters?  According to the American Tinnitus Association, based in Portland, Oregon, an adult might be affected by temporary of permanent tinnitus, which might be prevented by the use of earplugs.  Why should we worry about the impact of these levels of sound on the hearing of babies and children?   Well, consider the ways in which we are surrounded by loud sounds, ranging from normal everyday traffic and yard care implements (like some lawnmowers and trimmers) to the use of video games with their soundtracks made to simulate gunfire and other sudden loud bursts of sound.  We are so used to these assaults, we may not consider them unusual at all!  But, according to the National Institutes of Health, many teenagers are affected by this kind of loss of hearing – up to 20%, which has increased steadily since 1990!  Because the tiny little hairs inside the ear become damaged (and are not regenerated) with this kind of loss, the hearing loss is considered permanent.  While adults are surely able to make choices that may lead to hearing impairment, such as unprotected participation in activities with loud sound, what about their children?  How might they be protected while still being included in family activities?

The American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA) has some great suggestions on their website, including excellent information for parents, which you can find here: http://www.asha.org/Buds/Information-for-Parents/

I think we usually associate hearing loss in children with those a bit older – usually because of the use of ear buds and loud music.  Maybe the real solution for the little ones, such as the babies, is to stay at home with a reliable caregiver while the rest of the family attends the game, judging the ways they will protect their own hearing!  Certainly the effort to safeguard the baby and young child’s hearing is worth it – especially when you take a look at the consequences for this kind of exposure: http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/hearingloss/facts.html

At the levels of sound being aimed for at the sporting events, wearing earmuffs and earplugs is a reasonable approach for everybody, especially the children who attend!

What do you think?