In July 2001, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that one of eight children between the ages of 6 and 19 is suffering noise-induced hearing loss. These alarming data should alert parents to the fact that their children are being exposed to sounds that may hurt their hearing. Parents themselves may unwittingly contribute to this exposure.

Do parents actually listen to the rattles, squeaky animals, toy phones or even simple noisemakers that they purchase for their small children? Are they aware of how loud these toys are? Are parents taking their children to movies with sounds so loud that the children have to hold their ears? Are they taking them to exceedingly loud video arcades or racing car events? Have they checked the volume of their children's headsets?

How loud must sounds be to harm our children's hearing? Loudness of sound is measured on a modified decibel scale, dBA, with different sounds represented as so many dBAs. Exposure over time to sounds that exceed 85 dBA can be potentially damaging to hearing ability. According to Nancy Nadler of the League for the Hard of Hearing in New York City, many children's toys are dangerously loud. She measured rattles and squeaky toys as high as 110 dBA, toy phones as loud as 129 dBA, and cap guns measured beyond 140 dBA. Parents should listen to toys before buying them. If they sound too loud, they will sound louder to the small child who will be holding the toys closer to the ear. Unfortunately, the federal government has not yet issued proper warnings about loud toys.

There are also no federal regulations limiting the sound tracks of movies. The motion picture industry itself has not voluntarily lowered the decibel level on their sound tracks. Rather, the movie makers have opted to teach children that loud sounds are exciting and thrilling. Similarly, high-decibel games at video arcades are pitched as being lots of fun. To the contrary, these loud sounds are not good for our children's ears and parents should be wary of exposing their children to these loud entertainments.

However, it is not only a child's hearing that can be harmed by sound. Unwanted sounds can be harmful even if these sounds are not that loud. Homes can be very noisy places. Blaring stereos and televisions, shouting voices, and loud appliances create a home environment that can be harmful to the child's development. Studies conducted in these noisy homes found that language and cognitive development in children were slowed. Also, many homes are located near noisy airports, highways, and railroads. Children exposed to sounds from these sources have been found to have higher blood pressure, lower reading scores, and a poorer quality of life.

Parents must make an effort to lessen the noises in their own homes and bring some quiet into the lives of their children. In my book, Top of the Class, I interviewed older individuals, who had been high academic achievers in college, about their childhoods. I learned that their parents provided them with quiet places at home to study, think, and read. These academic high achievers also recalled that their parents did not discipline them with shouts and screams, but with stern looks and firm voices. Their quieter homes very likely contributed to their achievements in school that turned out to predict later professional and personal success. Also, conversation flows easier in a quieter home, allowing for more interaction between parent and child. Quiet may even foster better parent-child relationships.

Children not only experience noise in their homes; many also attend day care centers or schools that are situated near noisy airports,highways, or train tracks. Transportation noises disrupt both teaching and learning in the classroom. Research has confirmed that children exposed to these outside noises, as well as those generated within the classrooms themselves, do worse in school.

At one time the Office of Noise Abatement and Control, under the United States Environmental Protection Agency, produced pamphlets and other educational materials that warned people about the hazards of noise. This office also exerted pressure on industry to produce quieter products. When this office was closed twenty years ago, the move toward a quieter society slowed. It is now largely up to individuals to learn about the dangers of noise on their own. Once informed about the deleterious effects of noise, especially to our children, citizens should then urge the federal government to take an active role in quelling the mounting noises around us. One step would be to join organizations such as Noise Free America, the League for the Hard of Hearing, and the Noise Pollution Clearinghouse that are dedicated to combating noise pollution.