Deaf defining: today's noise pollution solutions.

One little-known--and invisible--health risk has already affected 100 million Americans: partial hearing loss as a result of society's rising levels of noise. In the past, most victims of this ailment were adults, many of whom worked in factories or other noisy environments. Today, however, the risk has spread to children and young adults--and has become a common occupational and environmental hazard.

Up to 30 million Americans are exposed to dangerous sound levels in the workplace on a regular basis, reports the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). And many others also pursue noisy recreational activities.

Ear-itation

Sixty million Americans own firearms, and many use them without adequate hearing protection, according to a 1995 study in the Archives of Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery. Then, there are chain saws, power tools, amplified music, traffic, sirens, snowmobiles, wave runners and motorcycles.

We're not just talking about jet engine mechanics or rock stars. In fact, experts say that hearing loss and permanent ringing in the ears is being reported at younger and younger ages. Even children's toys can produce sounds capable of causing permanent hearing damage, according to research published in 1997 in the International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology. As many as half of today's children now have some noise-caused hearing loss. The first-ever nationwide survey of children's hearing, published in the April 1998 edition of The Journal of the American Medical Association, showed that children have suffered hearing loss in both low and high frequencies. And hearing loss in children is often mistaken for other disorders--mental retardation, mental illness, brain damage or learning disorders.

Of the more than 28 million Americans with hearing impairment, about 10 million have hearing loss caused by excessive noise exposure, according to the NIH. Some ear pollution sources are obvious, but many hazards aren't. And once you lose your hearing, or some portion of it, it never comes back.

Can You Hear Me Now?