From toys and traffic to TVs and telephones — the amount of sounds you and your children hear every day seems normal to everyone.
However, the difference between sounds and noises is that noises are undesirable, while sounds are everything we hear. But sound and unwanted noise, especially at high volumes, can be annoying at best and, at worse adversely affect your child’s development.
1. Loud Sounds Can Impair Hearing
According to the NIH, sounds 70 decibels (dB) or less are generally safe. To put that in perspective, the sound intensity of normal conversation clocks in around 60 dB, while a normal passenger vehicle hears city traffic at 80-85 dB. Over time, exposure to sounds 85 dB or higher will greatly increase your risk of hearing loss.
The intense sounds can come from sources you are exposed to every day, such as traffic, shouting, personal listening devices and TVs. They, in turn, put your children’s hearing development at risk.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is in charge of monitoring the effects of noise pollution, estimates that more than 5 million children suffer from noise-induced hearing loss. This can lead to worsening ear conditions, resulting in long-term hearing loss and tinnitus.
2. Speech and Language Can Be Affected
This noise pollution that leeches into classrooms and homes can hamper your child’s ability to develop proper speech skills. That’s because the part of the brain that’s responsible for some hearing and memory capabilities — the temporal lobe — also plays a role in speech development.
3. Noises Can Influence Learning Skills
Though sounds such as music can help facilitate a child’s development, especially in newborns, noises can detriment it.
Studies have found that children exposed to consistent noise have more trouble completing school work. This noise influences their reading attention and problem-solving skills. Intense sounds, though among the most harmful, might not be the only sounds affecting your child’s learning skills. Background noise on TVs, even if within a safe level of intensity, has been linked to learning and reading problems in young children.
4. Can Disrupt Their Sleep Patterns
Loud noises can rouse you from your slumber. We set alarm clocks for this, but being irregularly woken from noises can have serious consequences for your child’s sleep patterns. These noises can leave your children with decreased levels of quality sleep and affect their short-term learning and child development. In the long term, the consequences compound and can influence cardiovascular health, contribute to hypertension and possibly cause heart disease.
Contact Soundproof Cow Today and Rid Your Home of Noise
We know you can manage your home’s internal noises — your TV, the volume on your child’s iPod and more — but we want to help protect you and your loved ones from the effects of noise pollution outside your home that try to creep in.
At Soundproof Cow, we’re dedicated to providing you with soundproofing materials so that you and your children can have a more tranquil setting in your home. Get started by completing a Free Acoustic Analysis today!
If you have any questions about the services we provide or how they can help rid the effects of noise pollution in your home, please contact us today!