TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/080591/0805130.000

Text File | 1992-08-28 | 7.8 KB | 169 lines

                                                                                HEALTH, Page 50

Now Hear This -- If You Can


Americans are amazingly tolerant of the noise that engulfs them
at work and play. They shouldn't be. The din causes millions to
lose their hearing, slowly but surely.

By ANASTASIA TOUFEXIS -- Reported by Barbara Dolan/Chicago, with
other bureaus


    Diane Russ of Evanston, Ill. never stays in the kitchen
when the dishwasher is running. She wouldn't think of using
power tools without wearing earplugs. And on weekends she keeps
her windows closed. "Some mornings you can't walk outside
because so many people are using their power mowers," she
laments. "It's very noisy out there." Who would dispute it? From
the roar of airplanes to the wail of sirens, the blast of
stereos to the blare of movie sound tracks, noise is a constant
part of American life. But few go to the lengths Russ does to
avoid it. Noise is annoying and frustrating -- and accepted.

    That tolerant attitude needs to change -- and fast.
Increasingly, the racket that surrounds us is being recognized
not only as an environmental nuisance but also as a severe
health hazard. About 28 million Americans, or 11%, suffer
serious hearing loss, and more than a third of the cases result
from too much exposure to loud noise. Last week specialists
testifying before a House committee documented an alarming new
trend: more and more of the victims of noise-induced deafness
are adolescents and even younger children. "We need to get
people thinking the same way about protecting their ears as they
now do about protecting their eyes," says Dr. James Snow Jr.,
director of the National Institute on Deafness and Other
Communication Disorders. "There is so much noise we're exposed
to that we tend to become complacent about it."

    Much of the clamor is unavoidable because it fills work
sites or public places. As many as 10 million Americans are
exposed daily to on-the-job noise that could gradually cause
some degree of permanent hearing loss. Sixty million Americans
endure other noise, including the cacophony of city traffic,
that is louder than the level the Federal Government deems safe,
and 15 million live close to busy airports or beneath heavily
traveled air routes. In some neighborhoods of northern New
Jersey, more than 1,000 flights thunder overhead each day.

    Much of the punishment, though, is voluntary.
"Unfortunately," says Russ, an audiologist at Northwestern
University's hearing clinic, "most of us unnecessarily increase
the burden of noise we put ourselves under in our private
lives." Homeowners endure the steady whine of everything from
chain saws and power lawn mowers to vacuum cleaners and
dishwashers. And the din of leisure activities can be just as
dangerous as the roar from the factory floor. "We have laws to
protect the hearing of workers in noisy workplaces," says senior
scientist William Clark of the Central Institute for the Deaf
in St. Louis. "But there are no laws covering recreational
noises." The most hazardous pastimes by far are hunting and
target shooting -- enjoyed by nearly 13% of the population. A
single crack of gunfire can hit 130 decibels or more, easily
exceeding the danger level of 85 decibels.

    Children lead some of the most raucous lives of all. Noisy
activities range from playing with cap guns to practicing with
school bands to riding the school bus. Of greatest concern,
however, is youngsters' devotion to amplified music. Rock
concerts can surpass 110 decibels, though they are more of a
threat to musicians than to audience members, who endure the
punishing pounding for only an hour or two.

    The most endangered kids are those who wander around with
cassette players blaring music into their skulls for hours.
These personal stereos can funnel blasts of 110 decibels or more
into the ear. "If you can hear the music from a Walkman someone
next to you is wearing, they are damaging their ears," declares
Dr. Jerome Goldstein of the American Academy of Otolaryngology.
After years of such assaults, notes audiologist Dean Garstecki,
head of the hearing-impairment program at Northwestern
University, "we've got 21-year-olds walking around with
hearing-loss patterns of people 40 years their senior."

    The ear is an amazingly flexible organ, but it simply was
not designed to withstand the strain of modern living. Hearing
naturally deteriorates with advancing years, but not by much.
Mabaan tribesmen in the Sudan, for example, who have never been
exposed to industrial sounds, maintain their hearing into old
age. Sudden intense noise, like a gunshot or dynamite blast, can
damage hearing instantly by tearing the tissue in the delicate
inner ear. Sustained noise from a jackhammer or disco music is
more insidious. The prolonged barrage flattens the tiny hair
cells in the inner ear that transmit sound to the nerves. As the
hairs wilt, people often feel a fullness or pressure in the ears
or a buzzing or ringing, known as tinnitus.

    Such symptoms soon subside and the hairs regain their
upright posture -- if the ear gets some rest. But unrelenting
noisy assaults can eventually cause the hair cells to lose their
resilience and die. They do not regenerate, and the result is
a gradual loss of hearing.

    Those who cannot escape exposure to loud or prolonged
noise should wear ear protectors, which can muffle sound by
about 35 decibels. National Institute on Deafness director Snow
contends that such protective gear should be as commonplace for
children as bicycle helmets and infant car seats. His institute
and other organizations are launching programs to educate
children about hazards to hearing. And musicians who have
suffered hearing loss, including Pete Townshend of the Who, are
helping spread the message about the price of high-decibel rock.
"We teach kids to keep their hands off the hot stove," says Jeff
Baxter of the Doobie Brothers. "Let's do the same with their
hearing."

    Efforts are also beginning to be made to attack
unavoidable noise pollution. John Wayne International Airport
in Orange County, Calif., boasts the toughest runway noise
standards in the country. Observers can stand on the field and
carry on conversations in normal tones, even as jets take off
and land. Los Angeles International Airport has pledged to be
equally quiet by the end of the decade.

    Some communities are starting to enforce antinoise
ordinances more vigorously. New York City, arguably the noisiest
urban center in the country, issued 1,000 citations last year,
up from 700 in 1988, primarily targeting air-conditioning
equipment, discos, street construction machinery and horn
blowing. In Southern California, police in National City and
Redondo Beach have been empowered to confiscate big speakers
installed in autos to make them what are known as "boom cars."
Says officer Michael Harlan of National City: "If we hear a boom
car 50 ft. or more away on a public street, we can cite the
driver."

    Noise is a low priority of the U.S. government. In fact,
the Reagan Administration closed the Environmental Protection
Agency's noise-control office in 1982 and dropped noise-emission
labeling on such items as power tools and lawn mowers. Hearing
experts call for a return of noise-emission information as well
as new warning labels on audio equipment that can produce
dangerously high decibel levels.

    The ultimate hope, says Dr. Patrick Brookhouser of Boys
Town National Research Hospital in Omaha, is that people will
realize "when you lose hearing you lose, to some degree, one of
our most vital attributes, the ability to interact with our
environment." In other words, Americans should be making the
most noise about noise itself.