October has been designated National Hearing Protection Month. This doesn't get as much press as some of the other issues out there, but I think it is as important. This time of year, many of you are hunting and don't think about the loudness of the gun when it goes off. I've seen many patients over the years who have sudden permanent hearing loss from a single gunshot. Today we have the technology to protect our ears in this situation. There are electronic noise ear plugs that actually provide a little amplification until you fire, then they have a compression circuit that shuts down the sound and protects the ear.
Our kids are going off to school and some of them play in the band or listen to their ipod's for extended periods of time during the day. More and more students are choosing to wear "musician plugs" to protect their hearing. These devices have a filter in them to soften sound over a broad frequency range allowing the music to maintain the correct sound, but softer. As for the ipod's, we now know that listening to music through headphones has dramatically increased the incidence of childhood hearing loss. The key to protecting your children's hearing is to cut down both on the level of the volume and the overall time during the day. I know this can be difficult because our kids don't always listen. I think it's worth the effort because nobody really wants to wear hearing aids when they're 18.
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