Take a Hearing Test

As a new campaign to protect children's hearing is launched - find out more and check your hearing.

A new campaign to save the hearing of our school children is being launched.

With a fresh approach aimed at teenagers aged 13 to 18, the Noise Abatement Society is raising awareness about the danger of permanent hearing loss due to continuous exposure to loud music in the ears from MP3 players.

They say that it could be common place in 2020 to see one in ten 30 year olds wearing a hearing aid unable to listen to an MP3 player anymore because of irreversible hearing damage.

Love your ears

Through the Love Your Ears campaign, the Noise Abatement Society is visiting schools with an interactive display to help students experience for themselves how loud they are listening to their MP3 players.

They are also developing lessons about hearing health, how the ear works and a personal development module to help teenagers understand the effects they have on others when they listen to MP3 players at high volumes.

Further underpinning this 'teenage timebomb', Deafness Research UK states that "a third of people under the age of 35 have experienced ringing in the ears, a sign of hearing damage, after listening to loud music".

Just like sea waves battering a coast, sound waves produced by MP3 players batter the eardrums causing permanent irreversible damage especially over a prolonged period.

Free hearing check

RNID is urging anyone who is concerned about their hearing to take their online hearing check.

You can also calls RNID's telephone hearing check on 0844 800 3838 (calls from a BT landline cost up to 5p per minute. Other providers' charges may vary. Call set up charge may apply).

The hearing check is not intended for people with known hearing loss, or who use hearing aids. If you use hearing aids and you still want to take the hearing check, you should remove them before taking the hearing check. Remember, however, that the hearing checks are designed to help identify people who have hearing loss and encourage them to take action.

This hearing check will not cover all aspects of hearing nor is it a medical diagnosis. It cannot assess your ability to understand speech through hearing aids. If you would like a full hearing assessment, visit your GP and ask for a referral to the ENT or Audiology department at your local hospital.

Source: GM TV