My child is not afraid of noise - are you sure? Find out what you need to know about protecting your children's hearing.

There are questions about working with a toddler who is surrounded by noise, loud music and an orchestra. Many believe that because their child is calm in a noisy environment, this topic does not apply to them. Unfortunately, if the problem is not visible, this does not mean that it does not exist, and children's hearing needs to be protected in a special way. What should we know about this?

Is noise equal to noise?

It is clear that many parents inevitably get their children used to quite noisy environments from an early age. Traffic, repairs at a neighbor's house, or loud barking of a dog are everyday sounds we live with, and children need to get used to it too. Many babies do not react negatively to noise, and this, of course, is very useful. However, the child copes with the noise, so we avoid this issue? Absolutely not.

Health is the most important

It is important to distinguish between auditory and non-auditory effects of noise exposure. Sounds can impair our mood or concentration, can cause increased fatigue, but can also cause permanent hearing loss. The Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing classifies noise interference and harmfulness as follows:

1. <35 dB - sounds harmless to health, can be annoying or interfere with work that requires concentration;

2. 35-70 dB - affect the overwork of the human nervous system, seriously impair speech intelligibility, falling asleep and rest;

3. 70–85 dB - significantly reduce labor productivity, can be harmful to health and damage hearing;

4. 85–130 dB - cause numerous diseases of the human body, make it impossible to understand speech even from a distance of 50 cm;

5. more than 130 dB - cause irreversible hearing damage, cause vibration of the internal organs of a person, causing their mechanical damage.

It is worth noting that for the state of our hearing, not only the level of sound, but also the time of exposure to it is of decisive importance. In the case of very loud sounds (> 130 dB) hearing damage can be caused by a single pulse, for quieter sounds the exposure time should be longer (eg 15 min for 100 dB).

Young children, especially newborns, are particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of excessive noise. The threat starts even earlier. Research indicates an increased risk of hearing loss in newborns from mothers exposed to loud noises during pregnancy. Thus, the Labor Code establishes that pregnant women are prohibited from working in conditions of exposure to noise levels exceeding 65 dB.

In the case of the youngest children, it is worth paying attention to silence the rooms they stay in, because their ears are especially sensitive to noise, which can lead to high blood pressure and an increase in heart rate. This can cause problems with sleep and rapid breathing, which means hypoxia in the body. Excessive noise and sudden high-pitched sounds can also damage hearing and even cause intracerebral hemorrhage. - comments Pavel Polak from the Comfort Silence Association for the Best Acoustics in Buildings, which has been conducting information, education and consulting activities in the field of acoustics for many years.

So how do you protect your children?

If we know that we are going to a place where it is likely to be quite loud and noisy, we must know that they usually do not have adequate acoustic characteristics, such as hard floors and ceilings. Appropriate adaptation would mean you wouldn't have to turn up the volume as much - the music would be intelligible at lower levels. In arto, get a simple solution widely available on the market. Protective earmuffs in the form of earmuffs perfectly protect children from unpleasant and harmful noise. Manufacturers offer models in many designs, colors, and most importantly - in sizes. Headphones of this type have excellent sound absorption performance, and their low weight makes their use not tiring. But most importantly, they will show up where the sound level is well above the noise limits for children, such as at parties, concerts or major sporting events.

But what to do in rooms where it is very noisy and it is difficult to get children to wear hearing protection? For example, in school corridors or canteens, where the average sound level ranges from 80 to 90 dB, and impulse sounds reach 115 dB. In this case, it is best to drown out the noisiest rooms by installing special acoustic panels on the ceiling and / or walls. This type of solution significantly reduces the reflection of sound waves in the room, allowing the overall noise level to be reduced to a few decibels. You, as a parent, can make such a proposal as part of a school initiative. - says Mikolaj Yarosh from the Comfort of Silence Association.

So, as we can see, the problem of noise in the context of children is a very broad topic. Loud noises can damage your hearing - that's an undeniable fact. Therefore, even if our baby tolerates them well, it is still worth taking care of his protection. It doesn't matter if they are suitable headphones or improve the sound insulation of rooms. Sometimes it is also worth changing your plans and instead of a pyrotechnic show, go for less harmful entertainment. However, in any case, the health and safety of children should be kept in mind.