Children hear “I love you”
for the first time
Denver, COLORADO
Photo courtesy Starkey Foundation
RN Graphic/Butler
Starkey Hearing Foundation helps
with hearing all over the globe
 By Colorado Kids reporter
Joanna Schumacher
8th grade,
Drake Middle School
Arvada, Colorado
Denver, COLORADO – Every day after school,
I pull out my iPod and blast my favorite tunes.
Sometimes, I get together with friends to go four-
wheeling. Then there’s the occasional loud concert
I just have to go to.
Whether it’s music, motors, or Mp3s, it’s amazing
how much noise you hear during your day. It’s also scary to think how
much of it might damage your hearing.
I wasn’t aware of noise problems until I went to the DiscovEARy Zone
at the AudiologyNOW conference at the Convention Center in Denver
on April 20. There, I learned all about hearing and how it works.
 This little girl in Mexico gets
a hearing aid allowing her
to hear in a whole new way.
Each hair cell in your ear has stereocilia, which
send signals to the brain. If the sound is too loud,
the hair cells becomes overloaded. They can no
longer pick up certain sounds. The even scarier
thing is that once they die, they can’t send signals to the brain,
and they never grow back. Ever. You’ve lost hearing.
Anything 85 dB (decibels) or stronger can
damage your ears.
This includes guns,
fireworks, race cars, and loud machines.
However, it also includes digital devices,
such as iPods or Mp3
players, with the
volume turned up louder than halfway.
“The main thing is to be aware of how
high you have the volume,”
said Cory
Portnuff, an audiology student at the
University of Boulder,
educated in speech and hearing sciences.
Decibels measure sound
Extreme
Firecrackers,
Jackhammer,
Jet Engine
Dangerous
Rock Concert,
Chainsaw,
Motorcycle
Very Loud
Alarm Clock,
Vacuum cleaner
Safe Sound
Normal
Conversation,
Normal rainfall
Faint Sound
Whisper
RN Graphic/Butler
Protect your ears
It’s not just how loud, but also how long you listen to loud sounds that
can affect your hearing … forever. Turn the volume on your digital
devices to 50 percent. This allows you to listen as long as you want
without damaging your hearing. If you listen at full volume, your
hearing can be damaged within minutes, and it will never recover.
Use ear plugs around excessively loud sounds. Buy high-quality
headphones to screen out background sounds.
Hearing is truly a gift. Since we’re born with it, we don’t really think
about it. But what if you didn’t have your hearing?
The hearing helpers
The Starkey Hearing Foundation in Minnesota strives to help people
all over the globe. It’s the oldest and largest hearing charity in the world.
Volunteers travel on 150 missions a year providing hearing aids to
those who can’t afford them. So far, they’ve given away more than
200,000 hearing aids.
I talked with the generous founder
of the Starkey Foundation, Bill
Austin, who has made it his mission
to change the world for those with
hearing loss.
This boy in Panama (below) and this girl in
Mexico (left) are happy because they can
now hear words and sounds like never before.
 “People need to know there is
help.
We do care,” Austin said.
“Hearing
is something everyone
should have.
We never turn
anyone away.”
Austin has seen firsthand the
excitement of children getting
a hearing aid. “There is no
feeling
like being in a room
with a child who
hears his
mother say, ‘I love you,’
for the first time.
It is very emotional. I see in their faces what it means to hear.”
May is Better Hearing Month. Why not do a better job of protecting
your gift of hearing? There are a lot of wonderful sounds to hear, and
nobody should miss out on them.
For important hearing information and ways you can help, see:
www.rnrk.com/weblinks.html
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