Photo credit: Burst, released under Creative Commons Zero License
by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
With coauthor Sophie Balk, we are proud to announce the publication of our latest article in The Hearing Journal on protecting infants’ and children’s hearing.
There are articles in the literature about screening for hearing loss in infants and children, learning difficulties caused by hearing loss from chronic ear infections, and other topics, but as best we could determine nothing about primary prevention of noise-induced hearing loss in the very young. So we decided to write the article ourselves.
We hope that our literature review will stimulate public interest and research interest in this important topic.
Prevention of a disease or condition isn’t exciting, but it is almost always a cheaper and better option than treating a disease or condition after it has affected someone.
And prevention of noise-induced hearing loss, in infants, children, teenagers, and adults, is simple, cheap, and easy: avoid loud noise, use hearing protection if necessary, or leave the noise source.
Remember, if something sounds loud, it’s too loud and your hearing is at risk.
That’s especially true for infants and children, whose delicate ears have to last them an entire lifetime.
