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Music and Your Teens: "Turn That Down!!" |
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We all know that music written for the younger generation was made to be listened to at high volumes. Rock doesn't sound like rock unless it's vibrating the floor, let alone your ear drums. Your teen knows this, you know this, and so does the record company. But if the volume is up so high as to vibrate something as stable as your house, what is it doing to the delicate organs in your ear?? See Ear Anatomy and Function of the Ear to check out the organs that we are talking about.
' Noise-induced hearing loss affects both the quantity and the quality of sound.'
Hearnet.
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According to Hearnet, pain, and consequently damage, can start if your listening to a sound at 125 dB. Amplified rock music at 4-6 ft. is 150 dB, and an average Walkman on 5/10 setting is 120-137 dB. Regular sustained exposure that may cause permanent damage is 92-95 dB. These are pretty enlightening stats. They tell us not only do we need to turn the music down, but also, listening to music for hours at lower levels can cause damage.
Ok, now that you have the facts, what do you do? Teens aren't good with facts when it goes against something that they want to do. Screaming "Turn That DOWN", isn't something we feel like doing daily, either. But, when its something as important as their hearing, we need to find a way to get them to comply.
We're back to the responsibility/privilege set up. Here is how I go about it with my teens and stereos. This needs to be set up before hand, letting teens know what is going to happen will avoid the "You didn't tell me that!" comment.
I say turn it down, once, if it does not go down to the level I wish it to be, I turn it down, if it goes back up, I take it, no ifs, ands, or buts. They get it back in a week. We try again, same rules, same consequences. The only comment I will make is, "You cannot handle the responsibility of having your stereo(the privilege), hopefully you will be able to do so next week."
If you don't know what levels are good, try the sound check at Hearnet, its under the Info Booth link.
Please continue on with this feature at About.com's Deafness Site.
