Want to know how loud your kids really are?
Posted in Hearing on May 13, 2010
Consider downloading a sound level meter app onto your iPhone. For as little as $199.00 these come pretty close to the "real thing." There are many different ones (and I have not heard of any that don't work), but most commonly used are: SPL Meter, Decibel Meter and SoundLevel Pro. These give you a real time analysis of the volume of sounds around so that you can really SEE how loud things are.
What is the power of knowing how loud it is? You can sit down and discuss the time vs loudness of sounds and set some limits to protect their hearing. We know we can be abusive to our ears and they recover (we've all left a concert with a ringing in our ears)... but we don't think about the scars being left behind at the time of injury. I spend time daily discussing sound with patients who wish they still had a chance to go back and reverse their losses. Like all area's of our body – damage means scars – more damage means more scars. It's not only happening when we leave the concerts but daily in our lives. I have a vivid picture of noise damage here in the office for anyone who would like to see – simply e-mail me at michelleb@nwface.com.
I continue to support dangerousdecibles.org for their virtual exhibit on hearing since it is a great start into learning how to protect ourselves.