When I was little I entered a poster contest.  The theme was “pollution” and we could choose any kind of pollution we wanted to protest.  I chose Noise Pollution.  It was bad back then, but it’s really bad now.  The Center for Disease Control estimates that 5.2 million children ages 6 to 19 have some degree of hearing loss in at least one ear, caused by noise.  50 million adults (like me!) suffer from tinnitus, a ringing in the ears that is often caused by loud or excessive noise.  Noise also ups our anxiety levels, raises our blood pressure, and disturbs our sleep.  Here are some things we can do about reducing the noise in our lives:

Listen at 50% volume.  Don’t turn it all the way up!  Especially when you have ear buds or ear phone that are directing the sound right into your ear you just don’t need to hear it that loud.

2.  Keep noisy toys away from baby’s sensitive ears.

3.  At the movies, or even in the gym, position yourself near the back-middle of the room, away from the speakers.  At a concert, wear ear protection.  Foam ear buds can cut out a lot of the volume and you can still hear the music.

4.  When using power tools, or a lawn mower, protect your ears with foam ear plugs or ear muffs.  Don’t listen to music while using the vacuum, that only doubles your exposure to noise.

5.  When flying, use noise-canceling headphones.  I bring mine on every flight, it makes a huge difference!