Keep Your Child's Hearing Healthy

As moms, we want our children to be healthy and happy. We make sure that they get the right food and exercise, keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t get into trouble, and give them the loving environment that every child deserves. However, there are some things that may just not occur to us when we are taking care of our toddlers – and hearing is one of these.

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Hearing problems in children are a major issue in America. In fact, the Better Hearing Institute estimates that approximately 1.4 million of our children have hearing loss. Some unfortunate children are born with profound deafness, and others become deaf as they grow up due to various medical conditions. Others are only partially deaf and can be helped by devices such as Miracle Ear hearing aids as they grow older. However, even if your child doesn’t have any congenital hearing defects, you still need to make sure that you keep their hearing in top condition.

Even as adults, we can experience hearing damage when we are exposed to loud noises. However, children are particularly vulnerable to this, since the tiny receptors in a child’s inner ear are more delicate and susceptible to injury. There are about 20,000 of these receptors in each ear, and as damage progresses, more and more of them stop working. This is a completely painless process, so neither you nor your child may be aware that this is happening. Once they stop working, the damage is permanent – they can no longer transmit sounds to the brain.

However, we are not always aware of just how loud some sounds are. For example, continued exposure to a television that is turned up too high can do significant damage over time. The same is true for a stereo that is turned up too high. Make sure that you keep the sound down to fairly quiet levels while your child is in the room – and if you want to turn the stereo up high to listen to your favorite music, then put them down for a nap in a different room.

Once your child is old enough to go to school, they will be exposed to other sources of noise. Many of these will not be within your control, but nobody can stop you from going into the school and checking if there are any problems. For example, heating and cooling systems in schools can produce excessive noise, as can some appliances. If you are worried about this, talk to your child’s teacher and ask them what can be done.

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Noise pollution outside can also be a problem. Keep your children away from noisy roads, particularly if there is heavy truck traffic. Even the noise of a lawn mower or power tools outside can hurt your child’s hearing – so keep them away from these, or consider giving them protective ear plugs. Other sounds that can damage your child’s ears include noisy restaurants, ambulance sirens and even loud squeeze toys, so make sure to moderate your child’s exposure to these where possible.

About Our Founder

Cascia Talbert is a busy blogger,  and mother of five children, living in Spokane, WA. With a B.A. in history and law and a passion for writing and staying healthy, she started The Healthy Moms Magazine in 2007. The Healthy Moms Magazine is currently ranked the top health blog for moms. Ms. Talbert believes that if mothers are well educated on health issues and how to stay healthy, they can pass that information down to their children and reverse the childhood obesity statistics in the U.S.

Ms. Talbert  runs the Healthy Moms Social Network on Ning, is the founder of Healthy Moms Media, and is the Chief Marketing Officer for Talbert Nutrition LLC. You can follow her on facebook.com/TheHealthyMomsMag, and twitter.com/cltalbert.

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