Recent polling shows that despite their concerns for hearing loss, over half of parents plan to purchase a tech-related gift for their child this holiday season. Parents often ask their children to turn down the volume, usually to no avail, but will buy them tech gifts despite this.

Often one of our best hearing tips is to avoid listening to music or podcasts too loud. However, technology like noise-canceling headphones can actually help you prevent hearing loss while still enjoying your favorite music, audiobooks, etc.

Approximately 26 million Americans between the ages of 20-69 have hearing loss caused by exposure to loud noises. We understand many people avoid wearing hearing protection because it blocks out the wanted noise along with the unwanted noise. What most people don't realize is that today's generation of hearing protection actually enhances low-level sounds (like conversations), while minimizing the loud sounds that create noise-induced hearing loss.

Earlier this month, a Washington Post column referenced this American Osteopathic Association article stating, "1 in 5 teens has some form of hearing loss - a rate about 30% higher than it was in the 1980s and 1990s - which many experts believe is due, in part, to the increased use of headphones." That's a number that might come as a surprise to many parents. It might also come as a surprise that noise - not age - is the number one cause of hearing loss.

October is National Protect Your Hearing Month. As audiologists, we see the effects that noise has on our patients' hearing on a weekly, if not daily, basis. It's not just our patients: approximately 26 million Americans between the ages of 20-69 have hearing loss caused by exposure to loud noises.