3 Tips To Help You Protect Your Child's Hearing At Home
Being able to hear the world clearly is something that many people take for granted. Hearing is one of the senses that can be damaged through improper care, injury, or exposure to loud noises.
Protecting your child's hearing from being compromised is a task that should begin in the home. There are many things that you can do to help make your home a hearing-friendly place for your children.
1. Teach good listening habits.
Today's children are growing up in a world where technology is easily accessible. Handheld gaming devices, portable music players, and tablets or smartphones are changing the way children entertain themselves.
Many of these devices allow your child to connect a set of headphones for enhanced listening. Turning up the volume too loud could damage delicate components within your child's ear.
To prevent the use of headphones from compromising your child's hearing, be sure that the earbud fits snugly in your child's ear to prevent noise contamination. Investing in noise-cancelling headphones can also be beneficial. Make sure you take the time to show your children appropriate listening volumes and explain the dangers of exceeding these volume limits.
2. Limit exposure to noisy toys.
The toys that your children play with on a regular basis can have a lasting impact on their hearing. Many toys produce loud noises that are meant to entertain and engage. Prolonged exposure to these noises could be detrimental to your child's hearing.
You can check the Sight and Hearing Association's Noisy Toys List to identify toys that hearing professionals have deemed dangerous. Toss these toys in the trash, or place a piece of tape over the speakers to help reduce the volume created by potentially dangerous toys.
3. Schedule breaks for quiet time.
Giving your child's ears a rest can be beneficial in reducing the potential for noise-induced hearing loss. Ensure that you are scheduling quiet-time breaks for your child regularly throughout the day.
These breaks give your child's hearing organs a chance to rest and recover from the strain of listening to television, music, or other types of media. You can use these quiet breaks as an opportunity to get to know your child better or engage in non-electronic games and exercise.
Protecting your child against hearing loss requires that you remain vigilant in monitoring your child's activities while he or she is at home. Teach proper listening habits, get rid of noisy toys, and schedule time away from devices to help your child's hearing remain intact.
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