Generation of the deaf

[Pat-inCO]

I was just watching a piece on (of all places) TV talking about kids
and "young adults" who use their cell phone to listen to music. While
there is nothing "wrong" with listening to music that way, the way that
most of them do it is costing them their hearing. Specifically by using
the "ear buds", or in the ear speaker elements.

Let's be honest, most of us look at those "kids" and generally think,
at least to our selves, IDIOTS! The reason? LOUD! The piece had a
segment from one university that had an audiologist with a store dummy
that had a sound level meter installed. The person running it would ask
any of the people coming by if she could test the level of sound they
were listening to, by plugging the ear-bud into the dummy's "ears".
They found that over 90% of the tests they ran had noise levels from
90 to a whopping 110db. Remembering that OSHA says the maximum safe
sound level is 85db, and then only for a single digit number of hours
per day. Many of these kids were literally killing their hearing. They
also said that in testing done at that university (I don't remember
which one) they said that at least ten percent of the students had,
from perceptible to significant hearing loss. Most of those students
were less than twenty five!

They also had a gal there that, in the typical liberal way, was very
adamant in her pronouncements about not using ear buds. Turns out she
had ignored what her parents were saying about her music being too loud
for a prolonged period of time and now has significant hearing loss.
Something about too soon older and too late smart? Or just that because
her parents said it, they could not know anything? Oh well. Sad that she
had to learn the hard way. She is twenty four and has about a 50%
hearing loss, all from her cell phone.

I . . AM . . encouraged that at least some of the TV stations are
broadcasting information that can actually help some of our younger
people, even if it is too late. Sad that it can not be made required
watching for everyone that gets a cell phone.

 

[Paul B]

Hell, look at how many of us old timers a deef as a post, some from work related noise, shooting with out protection other than maybe cotton balls or cigaret filter way back when. I recently had my ears test by the VA and I've lost 95 percent of all hearing in the high frequency range. I learned way too late but usxing muffs and plugs when I shoot at the range these days. When I hunt I use muffs with he speakers on. Keeps my ears warm and I hear game approaching. 8)
Paul B

 

[Jim Puke]

These young people are not hurting their ears any worse than we did. This is more of the liberal crap about SOME knowing what is best for all.

Bunch of crap.

Face it...life in general, is bad on the ears.

 

[Bob Wright]

I remember the head of our engineering department commenting on people being surrounded by noise constantly.

The office of a German engineering company was located away from town in a rural forested area. How it was determined, I don't know, but he told me the company was known for its efficiency in engineering design that it was far and away the most efficient and innovative company in its field.

But today, folks are advised against being plugged in as they go about their daily lives, as they frequently becomes victims of robbery and/or assaults, simply because they are distracted.

Bob Wright

 

[Bob Wright]

These young people are not hurting their ears any worse than we did. This is more of the liberal crap about SOME knowing what is best for all.

Bunch of crap.

Face it...life in general, is bad on the ears.

Jim,

I think you are being a bit harsh in your judgement. If one see a house afire, they have the responsibility to alert the occupants. If they choose not to leave the building, that's their choice. But the alert has been given.

Those resarchers are not pulling the plugs, they're advising the consequences.

Bob Wright

 

[toysoldier]

Face it...life in general, is bad on the ears.

That's pure BS. Life isn't hard on ears, but modern life can be. Before the Machine Age, the threat to hearing came from infection, not noise. Horses and chainsaws are a lot quieter than street rods with straight pipes and chain saws. Our fathers and grandfathers went deaf from working in factories, driving unmuffled vehicles, and other causes that have been addressed by a variety of workplace legislation, including OSHA. Now that workplace noise has been addressed, these idiot kids are deliberately blasting out their ears with over-amplified music. Very interesting that no one has suggested legislation to limit the decible output of personal audio devices.

 

[Jim Puke]

Face it...life in general, is bad on the ears.

That's pure BS. Life isn't hard on ears, but modern life can be. Before the Machine Age, the threat to hearing came from infection, not noise. Horses and chainsaws are a lot quieter than street rods with straight pipes and chain saws. Our fathers and grandfathers went deaf from working in factories, driving unmuffled vehicles, and other causes that have been addressed by a variety of workplace legislation, including OSHA. Now that workplace noise has been addressed, these idiot kids are deliberately blasting out their ears with over-amplified music. Very interesting that no one has suggested legislation to limit the decible output of personal audio devices.

That was part of what I meant...GENIUS.

The things we encounter and life/age.

And, age DOES damage hearing...plenty of older folks that I know that have never worked or played around loud noises in their lives...WEAR HEARING AIDS. Hell, age damages everything about our body...why do you think it would not damage hearing. Come on...think a little.

It seems that some folks have to have a picture drawn.

This music is nothing compared to what I/we encountered and most of us still hear well enough to get by pretty well. We all heard that loud rock and roll would render us deaf...and for the most part, it has not. This is just another example of "authorities" , yet again, yelling..."The sky is falling".

 

[Pat-inCO]

Very interesting that no one has suggested legislation to limit the
decible output of personal audio devices.

Excellent point.
I'll bet it is because the liberals don't want their kids yelling at them.

I think the item that some have not fully appreciated in this thread is that
the noise overload is not for just a day or even several days over the period
of a month or year, but rather that this type of abuse is on a DAILY basis.
The real damage is done when the overload (for lack of a better name)
continues for multiple weeks or months, or in some cases YEARS!

When you research the OSHA standards they have decibel levels at specific
time limits, for it to consistently produce hearing impairment. In the piece
I saw on TV one of the students was running his phone at 110db sound
level. At THAT level, hearing impairment, per OSHA, starts at 30 minutes!
Have you ever heard (no pun intended) of someone in the 15 to 25 years
old range, that only listens to music for thirty minutes a year? I would bet
more like thirty minutes per hour, for five to ten hours a day.

As if that were not enough data, NIOSH recommended MAXIMUM time
exposure at 109db (they use a different scale step than OSHA, thus the
109 v 110) is TWO minutes. :roll:

IMO . . . .
Easiest summary: Technology has advanced to a point where our junior
members that use their cell phones to listen to music, will be significantly
hearing impaired by the end of their first year of use.

 

[sebtool]

FWIW, I just took a bunch of OSHA training last week for work. It's required to get into the power plants we work in. The standard states that hearing loss occurs over 85 db, allowable exposure is 90 db for no more than 8 hrs per day. I'm not sure that I see the logic there. Shouldn't it be 85 db or less for 8 hrs a day??? :?

The MAXIMUM allowable exposure is 115 db, for NO MORE THAN 15 MINUTES PER DAY. Legally a person can not even be exposed to levels over 115 db.

My B-I-L just retired from his job as a lineman of 28(?) yrs. Pretty deaf, too. All these rules and regs came about a bit too late for most of us.

 

[Mobuck]

"These young people are not hurting their ears any worse than we did. This is more of the liberal crap about SOME knowing what is best for all"

The difference is the current group knows that these things can damage hearing and I(we) didn't. I would have been more careful had I known how difficult the results would make life in later years. The other thing is I didn't ruin my hearing with things as inconsequential as MUSIC. Mine came from thousands of hours on farm equipment and protecting my country NOT listening to some brain cell wasting noise.

 

[vito]

In the old days a person who wanted their music loud needed to be carrying a large radio, later a boombox, and playing it loud risked problems with other people being annoyed. Today they use the ear buds and blast away without bothering others. I ride my bicycle for exercise most nice days, and when I am coming up behind someone on the bike path I yell out "On your left" or other appropriate warning, and more often than not I am totally ignored because the person cannot hear my yell over the sound of their music. Sometimes I can actually hear their music as I pass them. Not only are these folks damaging their hearing, they are oblivious to what is happening around them. Sometimes I ride on a rather secluded bike path that formerly was railroad tracks. Sections are under a canopy of trees and totally hidden from the outside world. I have, on my bike, passed young women walking or jogging alone, with their full volume ear buds. I only worry about inadvertently ending up in a crash with these people, but I always think about what an easy target such people would be to a mugger or rapist who could approach them totally undetected. I try to practice situational awareness as much as I can in this potentially violent world, but so many people seem to be going as far as possible in the other direction to block out all input from the world around them. One way or another they will pay the price for their foolishness.

 

[opos]

Grew up shooting in the 50's with no ear plugs..maybe a cigarette filter or cotton..shot weekly in a long indoor hallway (police range) with a .30 Luger that really made a loud crack...shot trap and skeet with no plugs and my 25-06..same way...had a life of riding airplanes in business from DC3-s to 747's and the worst were the Viscount turboprops in the 60's...real whine.

I'm 80% deaf and for the life of me jsut can't get along with hearing aids...tried and tried..so I just smile and nod and hope I'm not smiling at the wrong things...

Deafness is no fun...sometimes it's helpful in a meeting when someone is babbling but mostly not a good thing...I wear high end muffs now and think things are not getting worse but wish I'd have been more cautious as a younger man.

I'd think the manufacturers could (would) put a limiter in the volume controls of the ear plugs...Looks like the next rash of "tv ad lawyer law suits"..like the asbestos thing.

 

[Bob Wright]

The Bible records the Lord Jesus Christ addressing thousands of folks. The apostles often spoke before large crowds, all without the means of any sound system, save the acoustics of amphitheaters. How did they make themselves heard?

Sound traveled farther then than it does now. Say what?

Sound, or sound waves, traveled farther without the ambient sound of today, aircraft flying overhead, traffic on highways, HVAC systems running; all of which generate sound waves to counteract opposing sound waves.

There is a geyser in Yellowstone National Park that, when discovered, could be heard from as far away as twelve miles. Today it can be heard only from about two hundred yards.

Bob Wright

 

[contender]

When I was about 15,,, I started getting the "ringing" in my ears. Up to that point, I had been a regular shooter of a 22 LR & a .410 shotgun. Plus,,, my dad owned a nightclub, that had live bands playing, (loudly) every saturday night. I also was going to a square dance hall & enjoying a live band.
At the age of 15,,, I purchased my first (of many) pair of quality ear plugs, on the recommendation of a friend,, who sold guns.
When I entered the Army,, I was issued foam plugs in a little plastic case. I used them.
When I got around my helicopters,,, I wore plugs and or muffs. I was one of the FEW crewchiefs that was insistent about using hearing protection around my birds.
My hearing, like many others is aging.
But I like to think that my early attempts at serious protection has allowed me to hear more & not have to depend upon hearing aids,,,,,,,,,,,, yet.

I think the effects of loud sharp noises, or the extended assault upon your ears by any noises,,, even noises below the "threshold" by OSHA, can increase the damage to hearing over time. The greater the exposure,,, the quicker the loss.
Hearing damage is such a slow process,,, that many do not address it properly. Yes, as we age,,, so does our hearing. But,,, why take the chance of actually accelerating it prematurely?

 

[stevemb]

If hearing didn't fail with age, alot more marriages would..just sayin'. LOL !

 

[bobski]

how can music be hurting their ears? theyre all deaf already before they plug up. obviously, since they never listen to anything we try to tell them . lol.

 

[stevemb]

Yup.

 

[gramps]

I have a documented 30% hearing loss, since the age of 37. As a child I occasionally shot guns without protection ( none to be had back then). As an adult I have used hearing protection for my guns. What killed my hearing was lawn mowers and chainsaws. Who would have thought?
gramps

 

[Paul B]

One of my first jobs was as an air hammer stripper. You used an air hammer simile to one used in street work and breaking up concrete. just a smaller version. I broke up boxes from a pile of paper roughly three and a half feet tall where the paper had been die cut to the shape of a box to hold a certain product. To get the idea, get a couple of boxes of just about any product, say a couple of bars of soap. Remove the soap :lol: and carefully open the box where they're glued at the seam and spread them out flat. Play with fitting the to gather like a jig saw puzzle and you get an idea of what I was doing. I did that for a couple of years and every night, I worked the swing shift, I'd go home with my ears ringing like a set of church bells.
The damned VA was suppose to set me up with hearing aids but the S.O.B.s reneged on the deal. A pox on them. :x
Paul B.

 

[Biggfoot44]

Turn back the calander 40 years, and it's the dire warnings about Walkmans all over again.