When is sound too loud and how do you protect your child’s ears from this? † Children & Family

Hearing damage occurs when the cilia in the snail fall over in the ear and are unable to recover. This can already happen after being exposed to a loud sound once, but also if you listen to a loud sound for too long or too often.

We talk about ‘too loud’ if a sound exceeds 80 decibels, Van der Borden explains. How harmful such a sound is depends on the number of decibels and how often and for how long you listen to it.

A noise of 80 decibels (city noise) can be heard ‘safely’ for eight hours a day. 83 decibels (a busy road) only four hours a day and 86 decibels (noise in the schoolyard) two hours a day. Sound of 103 decibels (concert or nightclub) can even damage your hearing in less than five minutes.

“Unfortunately, it’s not stated anywhere in everyday life: beware, it’s too hard,” Van der Borden says. “In most situations, you have to admit it yourself. As soon as you wonder if something is too hard, you can assume that it often is already.” A beep in the ear is also a warning of possible hearing damage.

As an adult, it is not always easy to recognize noise that is too loud, let alone for a child. It is therefore important that you as a parent are very aware of this.

“If you can hear it at arm’s length when your child listens to music or watches a movie with headphones on, the sound will still be over 80 decibels,” says Van der Borden. “Unfortunately, many adults also already have hearing damage, so they cannot warn their children in time.”

Saskia Kloet, program manager at the Knowledge Center for Injury Prevention SafetyNL, advises parents to give their children headphones instead of headphones so that the sound does not get directly into the ear. And preferably headphones that fit well over the ear so that the ambient noise is attenuated. “The better the ambient noise is filtered, the less likely you are to turn up the volume,” she explains. Or go for headphones with noise reduction.

Also, make sure that you always have hearing protection with you when you take your child to a concert, festival or other event, Kloet emphasizes to parents. “Even in a cafe, you should protect your children from loud noises.”

In addition, Kloet recommends an annual hearing test. It is difficult to find out if your child has already started hearing loss. “I know from experience that children are still quite East Indian deaf,” she says with a laugh. An online hearing test can give a good indication. “Getting your children’s hearing checked should be as common as taking them to the dentist.”

Education is of course also an important part of preventing hearing damage. Here lies a great responsibility for the parents. Schools can also play an important information role in this.

Kloet: “It is so important that adults realize what it can do to listen to loud music or games. Hearing impairments can greatly limit a child’s future.”