[Trombone-l] Loud noise in the gym

[Roger Hecht]

Following is a letter I sent to my YMCA

Yesterday, after finishing my workout, I was 
walking by the registration desk and noticed an 
indoor soccer game in the gym. I looked through 
the window and saw a large number of kids about 
12 years old and younger, of both sexes, many 
ethnic backgrounds, and all sizes. They seemed to 
be having a great time, and I couldn't help 
wondering why so many children of mixed ethnic 
backgrounds can play well together only to turn 
into adults who cannot. It is to the credit of 
the YMCA in Brighton that this thought crosses my mind often when I'm there.

As I watched, I began to wonder about the ominous 
thunder I was hearing. Of course, it wasn't 
thunder, and I decided to open the gym door and 
see just how loud the music coming from inside actually was.

It was extremely loud. Of course, that is the 
trend these days. The last Celtics game I attend 
(literally, the last), I had to wear 30dB ear 
plugs because of the music. The basketball game was a sideshow.

Anyway, as I stood there watching the soccer 
game, I could not ignore the irony of kids 
engaging in healthy exercise for their bodies 
while the sound system was damaging their hearing.

That same irony strikes me when I work out on the 
bikes in the quiet part of the exercise room. 
Someone takes one of the other bikes or 
ellipticals, begins working out, and turns the 
listening equipment on his/her head up to 
deafening levels. The overflow is so loud that 
the person's head sounds like a beehive. It 
creates quite a disturbing racket. Well, if it's 
disturbing to someone three to ten feet away 
(once I thought one of the room speakers was on), 
it has to be very damaging to its user. What can 
a person be thinking who is working so hard to 
keep his/her body fit while destroying that same body's hearing?

This is exactly what those kids in the soccer game are doing–with your help.

Surely you are aware of the recent research and 
concern over children and young people damaging 
their hearing with loud music. If not, here is a 
sample from yesterday's Boston Globe. I beg you 
to think about this issue and turn down the music 
in the gym while the kids are playing soccer. 
Otherwise you are as surely helping damage one 
part of their bodies while building others. Is that what you want?

_________________


Thursday, April 5, 2007
Students advised to tone it down

By Michael Levenson and April Simpson, Globe Staff

The audiologist walked through the packed 
lunchroom, holding a wandlike instrument near the 
200 middle school students laughing, shrieking, and drumming on the tables.

This was an experiment to test just how loud is 
loud during lunch hour at Smith Leadership 
Academy in Dorchester. The results surprised even 
the doctor, the director of audiology at the 
Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary.

Her meter showed 85 to 90 decibels, the 
equivalent of a gaspowered lawnmower held at 
arms’ length. At that level, the federal 
government would limit exposure to eight hours or 
fewer in a workplace, said the audiologist, Sharon G. Kujawa.

The experiment Thursday underscored a growing 
debate in the scientific community about whether 
children are at greater risk for hearing loss 
because of their constant exposure to loud 
sounds, not only in the lunchroom but any place 
where they listen to music on headphones.

There are conflicting studies on whether children 
are losing their hearing earlier in adulthood 
than in past generations, but there are enough 
warning signs that Kujawa and teachers want the 
students to pipe down and turn down the music.

"The risk is very real, so we shouldn’t 
underestimate that," said Kujawa, who is also an 
associate professor of otology and laryngology at 
Harvard Medical School. "We don’t want to wait to 
get the evidence, because once that happens, that’s it. It’s too late."

Doctors have long known that children can damage 
their hearing through a single exposure to a 
deafening noise, such as a firecracker, or 
repeated exposure to loud sounds, such as music 
from a stereo. But their concern has grown in 
recent years as more children listen to music 
through headphones, which bring the sound even 
closer to the fragile hair cells of the inner 
ear. Once those cells, which transform sound into 
electrochemical signals to the brain, are 
damaged, they can’t be regrown or repaired through surgery, Kujawa said.

"We have very poor ways of dealing with the 
consequences," Kujawa said. "The very best we can 
do is educate people, so we can prevent it at the front end."



Roger Hecht