They say that you never know what you have until it's gone hearing is one aspect of yourself that most people take for granted. We no longer listen to the song birds, but traffic noise that we cover with loud music. Not only are we shutting out the world, but we are damaging ourselves. Today, May 31, is Save your hearing day it’s a special day when we recognize the importance of hearing and that it should be protected. This is an opportunity to learn about what we can do to avoid hearing loss and there are ways we can prevents deafness.

Sound is measured in decibels, a normal speaking voice is 60 decibels. A rock concerts generates 135-155 decibels, which can lead to permanent damage if you are exposed to it for a long period of time called NIHL, noise induced hearing loss. At 120 decibels, the sounds of a thunderclap or chainsaw will cause pain in the eardrums and at 150 decibels the human eardrum pops. According to John Hopkins, nearly a fifth of all Americans 12 years and older will have hearing loss in their lifetime to such a degree that they have a hard time communicating. This is most often due to overuse of new technologies, such as iPods, laptops, and cell phones while using headphones. Some of these have a higher volume limit than is safe for the human ear. The highest volume you can achieve on an ipod is 105 decibels, which is much louder than the 75 decibels that are recommended. The rule of thumb for using an iPod is 60% volume for 60 minutes to retain your hearing. Did you know that you can also detox from your overconsumption of loud music? It consists of 16 hours of rest for your eardrums, which is under 50 decibels. Everyone should be aware of the noise going on around them to prevent hearing loss.
If you need examples of the difficult life you would be leading just watch some of the following films with characters that have impaired hearing. In the film Amy, distributed by World Wide Motion Pictures, the main character loses her hearing due to emotional trauma and the journey of her mother and neighbors to bring her back. To be unable to communicate with those closest to you is hard to imagine for most of us who have perfect hearing. Being extra patient with the elderly and those who have a hard time hearing is important, because, even though their hearing is impaired, their minds are not. Other films include Copying Beethoven, which is about the famous composer with impaired hearing, There will be Blood, The Miracle Worker, Beyond Silence and many more.

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