Can Noise Pollution Harm Infants?

Noise pollution is receiving a lot of attention recently. As we learn more about the negative effects, it is becoming apparent that many of the sounds of our society are harmful, especially to children and babies.

To truly understand the effects of noise pollution, there are a few elements you must understand first.

“Our ears are meant to process natural sounds, not man-made noise”

Crying child, loud noise. Our ears are made for processing a variety of natural sounds, and they are pretty good at it. The difficulty comes when, as in the modern day, loud man-made sounds are prevalent throughout our society.

These unwanted sounds are known as noise, and are often loud, annoying, and distracting.

These new additions to the available spectrum of sound put the construction of our ears at odds with the sounds of our world. This is especially true for an infant’s hearing, whose ears are still in development.

The Effect of Loud Noises

Hearing damage to small children can be caused by a single instance of extremely loud noise (anything over 120 dB in children and 140 dB in adults). This essentially causes the hair cells of the ear to become damaged or even die, making hearing much more difficult and even impossible.

These single occurrences would need to be fairly loud in order to cause damage, but consistent exposure to noises of a lower decibel can also be damaging.

The Effect of Consistent Sound

Exposure to relatively loud sounds (sounds over 85 dB), also cause damage to ears. Basically, the louder the sound, the less time it takes for damage to occur.

The sound pollution caused by heavy traffic (80 to 89 dB) is loud enough to cause damage to the ear, especially in young children with consistent exposure. This means that protecting your children from those noises is especially important.

Protecting Your Children

Sound reduction is extremely important to maintain your child’s hearing. This includes encouraging your children to wear earplugs at noisy concerts, to turn the volume down on their headphones, and to limit their exposure to sound pollution (like heavy traffic).

Sound Fighters’ noise barrier walls provides a layer of protection from traffic noise, helping you and your children maintain good hearing. Contact us today for more information!

Updated 8/19/2021