We have heard the warnings about the dangers of hearing loss from overly loud iPod and cell phone use. The danger level for iPod use is 80 percent volume for 90 minutes daily. This article is the first one I have read that quoted a teenager as simply not caring if he went deaf. his teen said: "I'm probably going to have problems when I'm old anyway, why not have bad hearing?" One reason for the flippant attitude is that hearing damage from excessively loud iPod/cell phone use won't show up til years later, when these teens are well into their careers.
Maybe we need to advertise to parents of hearing teenagers, "Parents! Worried about your teen's loud music? Introduce your teenager to a deaf or hard of hearing person." Then the teenager would have a chance to find out in advance what their lives would be like if they don't quit the loud iPod/cell phone use.
I remember in high school attending ONE rock concert, and being shocked at how loud it was. And I was already deaf. Plus, one possible reason I lost more hearing (besides my progressive loss) as I got older, was from overamplification of my hearing aids.
Source: York Daily Record, June 15, 2009
Horray! Teens know better than many ignorant people. It is fun to be Deaf… It is so awesome to be Deaf. Rock on!!! I like their attitudes… It’s nothing wrong to be Deaf..
) Aidan
I second Aidan Mack. Shame on you for bringing it up as if being Deaf is horrible. If teens go Deaf, they will experience the enrichment of the Deaf community. Why worry about it? We have ASL.
It’s really not funny. In the agency where I worked in the past, we saw people in their late 20’s to mid 30’s come in, very distressed about their hearing loss. One was a rock singer who needed hearing to work. Actually, it’s as upsetting as people losing vision and suddenly unable to read even with glasses.
woohooo! you guys are dumb. we are trying to preserve our teens hearing.
I am a 17 year old girl and my hearing is absolutely awful from having hundreds of ear infections since I was a kid. It makes me so angry that other people my age could seriously say that they are not bothered about going deaf. Not being able to hear is the most irritating, unsettling and inhibiting thing which there is no way of imagining until you are in the situation for yourself. Hearing is something that everybody takes for granted, and is something you only realise how greatly you depend on once it is gone.
If listening to iPod’s is going to damage your hearing, then turn it down a bit. Having your music a tiny bit lower is much less of a sacrifice than loosing your hearing a few years down the line.