The Background - Artificial Human Sensors: Science and Applications - page 14

there is a probability of MP3 players, and Ipods causing permanent hearing loss
remains unclear.
The potential risks to children and young people with regard to hearing loss
is not related to portable music equipment only, but has to take into account many
sources in which youths may be exposed to loud noise. The term music-induced
hearing loss is used for a condition similar to noise-induced hearing loss. Both
noise- and music-induced hearing loss are characterised by a notch in the 4000
to 6000 Hz region of the audiogram, and are linked to hearing disorders,
Morata (2007). The inference based on the given references may conclude that
the total sum of both exposed music and noise will affect the risk of permanent
hearing loss at young ages. The social pattern of today seems to increase the risk
for young people to be exposed to increased sound that will provide a percep-
tual health problem. Fewer young individual's seem to have lost the preferences
to experience a moment of silence in, for example, a secluded place in nature far
away from the constant rattle and noise in a city, e.g., the communication systems
like subways, trains, cars or air planes.
As hearing impairment among the young population rises due to mostly vol-
untary exposure to loud noise, there are many implications for health awareness.
In the study related by Daniel (2007), the noise-induced hearing loss is reported
to be a major cause of deafness and hearing impairment in the USA. It has been
shown that though genetics and aging are major risk factors, temporary and per-
manent hearing impairments are becoming more common among young adults
and children, especially for those with the increased exposure to portable music
equipment.
But the music-induced noise is only one influencing factor of hearing loss.
Another important factor of noise-induced hearing loss is related to education in
schools. The classroom activities are especially vulnerable for human noise, when
an individual cannot influence their choice of being in the disturbing environment
many hours a day. Ristovska (2004), reported that school children exposed to
elevated noise level had significantly decreased attention, social adaptability, and
increased opposing behaviour in comparison with school children, who were not
exposed to elevated noise levels. In a learning environment like a classroom, it is of
most importance to provide adequate speech intelligibility to young individuals.
This requirement is of vital significance, especially when the individual's learning
process is affected and may in the worst case, lead to a reduction in learning effi-
ciency. The classroom's noise level may affect the children's and student's ability
to acquire basic knowledge and influence their future option for a qualitative good
life.
As many studies have been conducted about specific noise source, such as
classrooms, roads, building construction, the non-auditory consequences of typi-
cal and cumulated day-to-day noise exposure among children and young adults
are poor. This cumulative effect includes both voluntary exposure music induced
noise and as well as non-impressionable noise. The consequence is demonstrated
in the literature, however, that the probability for many young children and adults