Noise-induced hearing loss is probably the biggest global public health emergency you’ve never heard of. The World Health Organization (WHO) says 1 of every 5 U.S. teens (ages 12–19) has a measurable hearing loss likely from loud noise.
Protecting Your Hearing Is Actually NOT That Hard
You may have noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) and not even realize it. By taking steps to prevent NIHL—which is easy once you know what to do—you can protect yourself from linked health consequences into the future.
Air Horns, Megaphones, Drills, Grenades Exploding in Your Ears: This Powerful HHF Ad Campaign Shows What Loud Volumes Can Do to Your Hearing
Hearing Health Foundation (HHF) is delivering an urgent message to young people about preventing hearing loss with powerful ads online and in major cities. Through the “Keep Listening” campaign, we’re encouraging people ages 16-35 to take simple precautions to protect themselves from noise-induced hearing loss.
From a $3.95 Guitar to the Solid Body Electric Guitar: How Les Paul’s Persistence Changed the World of Music
Music legend Les Paul is famous for inventing the solid body electric guitar and other innovations related to recording music. Less known is that he also had a hearing loss and wore hearing aids in both ears.
What Works for Me: Revelations From Seeking Help for Chronic Tinnitus
The hearing loss and tinnitus that resulted from my service have stayed with me, making me part of the two million Americans with debilitating tinnitus, and the 20 million with chronic tinnitus. Seeking help, I turned myself into a human guinea pig. Here’s what I learned.
Why Are (Some) Sports So Noisy?
My friends and I were at a college basketball game, hollering and stomping on the bleachers. The shouting and pounding merged us into a single, vibrating, noise envelope of our own making, and we loved every decibel of it. That was long before I paid much attention to noise, or started losing my hearing.
The USPSTF Sticks to Its Recommendation: No Hearing Screenings for Older Adults
As in its draft recommendation released a few months earlier (which I wrote about), the USPSTF “concludes that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of screening for hearing in older adults.”
How Far We've Come: Opportunities for Children With Hearing Loss Then and Now
Pioneering educators in the 1970s and 1980s created a new vision for infants and toddlers with hearing loss, emphasizing early identification and family training—revolutionary ideas then, best practices now.
From Macrame to Masks
This adjustable elastic was designed for those with special needs, such as those with autism and wearers of hearing aids. The principal is simple: One strap goes around the neck, the other one around the head. The problem was the bottom elastic—it gets caught in the hearing aids and the elastic turns into a slingshot.
The Things I Miss
I formally learned of my mild to moderately-severe bilateral sensorineural hearing loss at age 49. The ear, nose, and throat (ENT) doctor’s verdict was unexpected. Almost 13 years later, I wear hearing aids vigilantly, but there’s still so much that I miss about having typical hearing.