Hearing protection for children

Hearing problems of children are often difficult to detect. And until we see clear signs, children may have missed many important opportunities to develop social, language, and cognitive skills. Therefore, parents need certain knowledge to early detect and protect their hearing.

Signs of impaired hearing

- Infants: Children are not startled when they hear loud applause from a distance of 0.9-1.8m or there is no reaction to your voice.

- 8-12 months: Children do not turn their head to a familiar sound or " flinch " in response to a relative's voice.

- 1 year and a half: Children cannot use some single words like grandmother, mother . or cannot distinguish the parts when suggested.

- 2 years old: Children cannot follow simple requirements but lack visual suggestions, actions or cannot repeat phrases.

- 3 years old: Children cannot orient where the sound is coming from or do not understand and cannot use words such as go, child, big, big .

- 4 years old: Children cannot tell a few things they did recently.

- 5 years old: Children cannot perform a simple conversation, or the sentences they use are difficult to understand.

- School age: The loss of hearing at this age is sometimes determined by lack of concentration, or neglect, frequent colds or earache.

If your child has one of the above symptoms or does not show behaviors that are age-appropriate, you should take your child to the doctor for early detection.

Ways to protect hearing for children

Some of the following tips can help protect your baby's hearing function in noisy environments:

1. Avoid giving your baby long-lasting advertisements with loud noises.

2. Have your child wear ear protectors when subjected to constant loud noises such as a drill or lawn mower.

3. Make sure the sound environment (noise from the heating or cooling system, computer whirring and other devices) around your child's school does not exceed the allowable limit.

4. Some houses and construction schools are close to places with continuous loud sounds such as crowded intersections, train stations that will cause serious hearing loss. Therefore, parents should consider reducing noise from outside such as:

- Soundproofing for walls
- Handling sound level on the wall or ceiling.
- Windows and doors do not have many openings.
- Ventilation and air conditioning system running smoothly.

If conditions permit, you should move or transfer schools to protect the best hearing function for your baby.
Sounds are at risk of hearing damage

The Occupational Safety and Health Association announces that sound exposure of 85 decibels or higher may damage hearing. Here are some levels of different types of sounds:

- Kitchen garbage crusher: 85 decibels
- Crowded traffic: 85 decibels
- Restaurant is too noisy: 85 decibels
- Listen to a music player with a loudness: 110 decibels
- Rock concert: 120 decibels
- Vehicles running on snow and ice: 110 decibels
- Ambulance horn: 120 decibels
- Explosive firecrackers: 125 decibels
- Aircraft engine: 140 decibels

Binh Duong