South Pasadena Middle School Presentations

On January 14, 2008, I prepared and presented the hearing conservation program titled, "It's How You Listen That Counts" on behalf of the House Ear Institute at South Pasadena Middle School in Pasadena, CA. The goal of the presentation was to educate approximately 1,050 students (6th-8th graders) on basic anatomy of the ear, how we ear, safe sound levels, dangers of loud noise exposure and how to protect our hearing. The presentations ranged between 25-30 minutes and included a question and answer session. The students were a great group and asked some thoughtful questions!

An interactive portion of the presentation involved the use of a sound level meter to measure the loudness level of music in decibels (unit used to measure sound intensity). To show this, an iPod was connected to an external speaker and a student volunteer read the level displayed on the sound level meter as I increased the volume of the iPod. The purpose of the demonstration was to listen to what 85 dB sounds like and also emphasize the importance of the location of the sound source in relation to your ears. The students learned that sound intensity attenuates (decreases) as distance increases and how this can help us with protecting our ears.

As always, it was a pleasure to be able to meet with students in the community and contribute to their learning experiences. I hope that the information will help them make sound decisions, such as using earplugs in loud environments (ex. concerts) and setting safe volume levels on their mp3 players and other electronic devices. I am also continuously amazed at how receptive children and teens can be on hearing matters!