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The Jewish Home | JULY 28, 2022
Parenting Pearls
Protecting the Youngest of Ears By Sara Rayvych, MSEd
I
was a first time mom attending the wedding of a family friend. Holding my little baby, I enjoyed watching the dancing in front of me. The music was so loud that I almost missed the woman next to me trying to get my attention. She quickly explained that I was standing too close to the speakers and that the music was far too loud for my infant’s ears. As the wife of a musician, she was familiar with chasunah noise levels and their danger to infant hearing. To this day, I am grateful that she raised my awareness on this issue. As someone who has seen firsthand the difficulties associated with early hearing loss, I can appreciate the importance of protecting our children’s ears. It is certainly far simpler to prevent the issue than to treat it after the fact. While there are many things that parents can’t prevent, some forms of hearing loss are preventable. The ear has three parts: the outer, middle, and inner ear. The outer ear funnels the sound towards the eardrum, causing it to vibrate. Those vibrations cause the bones of the middle ear (malleus, incus, and stapes) to move. Those movements continue towards the inner
ear (cochlea) and its small sensory hair cells so they can be passed on as electrical impulses to the brain. It is damage to these hair cells that causes hearing loss from loud noise. Once noise reaches 85 dB (decibels) or greater, it can begin to cause this damage. I’d like to thank the professionals who took the time to review this article, including Judith Millman MA, CCCSLP and Judi Adler Weiss MS, CCC-SLP.
The Importance of Childhood Hearing The importance of hearing is rather obvious since it’s a major source of information about the world around us. A car horn warns a pedestrian that strayed into oncoming traffic, a lifeguard’s whistle signals aquatic danger, and children enjoy singing their favorite tunes. We use our hearing every day and throughout the day. Childhood hearing goes even beyond our day-to-day adult hearing needs. As infants are still growing, their brains develop alongside the rest of their body. It is the hearing they experience when young that shapes their brain’s ability to hear and understand auditory stimuli when they’re older. We hear with
our ears and brains working together. We need both working optimally and in unison to process auditory stimuli. Hearing is not only important on its own, but it’s also the foundation for other crucial areas of development. A child needs to hear sounds to develop speech and language. Those skills are further translated into reading, writing and social development. It’s the beginning months and years of a child’s hearing that are the most critical time period.
Hearing Screenings Hearing screenings are first done at birth and later by your pediatrician. They are a simple way to ensure your child is hearing optimally. Additional screenings can be easily arranged should you have any concerns about your child’s hearing. There are local audiologists, otolaryngologists (ENTs), and other professionals that specialize in pediatric clients and can provide clarity to any hearing concerns. Signs that your child should be evaluated include hearing ringing, roaring or hissing sounds, needing to have things repeated, speaking loudly unnecessarily, and failing to respond to unexpected, loud noises.
Hearing Protection for All Ages All of us need our ears and can get overwhelmed by loud noises. Infants and young children, in particular, are easily overstimulated by sound. Some children are more sensitive than others, and children with a variety of situations, including ADHD and sensory issues, can quickly have trouble coping in loud environments. They may get scared, overwhelmed, or just frustrated. Situations that seem benign to an adult may seem frightening to a youngster. Fireworks are loud, confusing, and unnerving. Concert music, while enjoyable to us, may not seem like anything but noise to a child. Large crowds can be incredibly overstimulating to a young person. When viewing the world from the youngest of places, sounds can be interpreted very differently. Alternatively, teenagers may not realize how loud their music sounds. We may need to remind our older children to protect themselves from loud sounds being pumped directly into their ears, especially when they’re wearing headphones. When we were younger, headphones were mostly for use with Walkmans or other music players. Today,
