Turn your radio down for a second and listen: October is National Audiology Awareness Month and National Protect Your Hearing Month. Now is the perfect time to get your hearing checked.
As college students, we love blasting the stereo in the car, going to concerts and keeping our iPod volume turned all the way up. Our generation saw the birth of the MP3 player, and now we're starting to see how detrimental they can be to hearing when they aren't used properly.
A UF study done in March concluded that some students were already experiencing hearing loss, and most often they were students who reported using their personal music players frequently.
According to UF research, of the 56 students who participated in the study, a quarter did not have normal hearing sensitivity. The study also found that the highest levels of high frequency hearing loss were in male students who reported using personal music players often.
For anyone who wants to get involved, Shands at UF has a Speech and Hearing Center located on the second floor of the dental wing that provides a variety of different services to check inner ear function and hearing.
To see what services they offer, you can see the Audiologic Diagnostic Services website.
As a basic rule of thumb, you should always make sure the volume on your personal music player isn't loud enough for someone sitting next to you to hear.
One other thing you can do is keep the volume in your car down. It not only keeps other people from getting annoyed, but it also helps reduce noise pollution.
Encourage your friends and family to get their hearing checked. It's a very simple process that doesn't take much time, and it will keep hearing-aids at bay for a long time to come.
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