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Re: [AUDITORY] How to speak to people about hearing loss and high sound pressure levels
Hi Kevin and list;
I'm 81+. When I was 22 (1954) I was inducted into the army,
stationed at Fort Dix, and on occasion my platoon camped out
at McGuire air force base near the end of one of the
runways. During the night when the Jets took off they had
their afterburners "on" creating a noise level that actually
caused ear pain. Over the last 10 years or so my hearing has
degenerated..
You might want to look at the training conditions for the
military.
Fred.
------------------------------------------------------
Fred Herzfeld, MIT class of 1954
78 Glynn Marsh Drive # 59
Brunswick, Ga. 31525
USA
tel: (912) 262-1276
Web: http://alum.mit.edu/www/herzfeld (not up yet)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kevin Austin" <kevin.austin@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <AUDITORY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, October 13, 2013 1:09 AM
Subject: How to speak to people about hearing loss and high
sound pressure levels
An on-going topic -- very high level [dB] sounds, hearing
loss, personal and societal responsibility.
Once or twice a year I am invited and go to an event where
the sustained sound pressure [dB] levels will be in excess
of 95dB, and often into the 105 - 110+ dB range. I am
usually long gone before the levels have drifted up to
this point, however they usually start in the 85-90dB
range. I use a combination of Vaseline [petroleum jelly],
and water- [spit-] soaked paper tissues / Kleenex, to seal
my ear canals. At the last two events I left, about 20% of
the people were babies or children under 7-9. They were
brought close to the speaker stacks, and the younger
children enjoyed playing in front of the speakers.
My question is not one about NIHL etc, which is
documented, but rather one of how to speak to the people
responsible, before and/or after the event about the
damage that is being caused by these environments. If this
were a work place, there would be laws, rules, regulations
and ways of changing the behavior. In these social
environments, rules and regulations don't apply. And I'm
talking 3 or more hours of continuous 105+dB.
There are currently two students in our university
electroacoustic studies program who have reported their
hearing condition to me in some detail, along with
audiograms, and possible hyperacusis. Discussing this with
many younger people tends towards the "teenage
invincibility syndrome" [will never happen to me], and in
older people, there is a general ignorance or lack of
understanding, often paired with an attitude that
indicates, "if it really is a problem, there would be laws
about it". There are. But, in my experience, there is a
fundamental ignorance of what happens, and what has been
happening for the past 35 - 40 years.
As the professionals in the field, what can be done? and
how can it be done? Is it a matter of this "silent
plague", simply eating up the hearing of those who are
under 40 such that they will not be able to hear in 15 -
25 years.
Recently, this appeared:
Thu, 09/12/2013
Blake Wilson, Graeme Clark, and Ingeborg Hochmair were
awarded the Lasker Award this week for their
contributions to the development of the cochlear
implant. The Lasker Award is essentially the American
Nobel prize, and this is an incredible recognition of
not only the importance of cochlear implant technology
but also a much broader acknowledgment of the importance
of hearing and communication by the entire scientific
community. There will be several events over the next
few months building on this recognition with interviews
with the Lasker awardees, a dedicated one-hour show on
PBS with Charlie Rose and Eric Kandel on hearing, and
finally a two-day workshop sponsored by the Institute of
Medicine on hearing loss in older adults in January.
It is noted that this seems to be mostly about
cochlea-based hearing loss in older adults.
Other items on stem cell research growing back hair cells
have been seen in the media. However, these reports do not
address a major cause of the problem, exposure to high dB
levels. As I understand it, this developing technology may
have little effect on tinnitus caused by nerve damage.
Are there ways to have the media take cognizance of and
report on the dangerous environments which persist?
As professionals, is there any individual or group
responsibility regarding making this better known and the
[likely] consequences more clearly understood? Is this
like the cigarette situation where the 'evil' is not only
socially acceptable, but expected so that the event has
'street cred'? Club owners and Rave organizers want
blood-letting levels, "because the customers want it".
Kevin
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Date: 10/12/13 02:34:00