Preventing Excessive Noise Exposure in Infants, Children, and Adolescents
Pediatrics
Balk, S. J., Bochner, R. E., et al. (2023).
Pediatrics, 152(5), e2023063752.
This policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics provides recommendations for preventing noise-induced hearing loss due to excessive noise exposure in infants, children, and adolescents. This summary includes recommendations within the scope of audiology.
American Academy of Pediatrics
<div>This guideline is a policy statement that is linked to a technical report under the same title:</div>
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<div>•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Balk, S. J., et al. (2023). "Preventing Excessive Noise Exposure in Infants, Children, and Adolescents." Pediatrics 152(5): e2023063753.</div>
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Clinicians should provide counseling and education on the consequences of excessive noise exposure to prevent noise-induced hearing loss in infants, children, and adolescents. Specific topics to discuss with care providers and adolescent patients include the following: <br />
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<li><span style="color: #333333;"><strong>Personal listening devices.</strong> Confirm the child can hear when spoken to and encourage device breaks.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333;"><strong>Noisy venues (e.g., concerts, sporting events, firework displays). </strong>Use hearing protection, such as earmuffs for young children or properly inserted earplugs in older children, regardless of the duration of exposure. When possible, avoid or leave a noisy location. </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333;"><strong>Impulse noises (e.g., firearms, explosives).</strong> Avoid exposure whenever possible or use double hearing protection if it cannot be avoided. </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333;"><strong>Infant sleep or noise machines.</strong> Encourage safe usage practices such as locating the device away from the infant, setting the volume low, and limiting the duration of use to less than 8 hours. </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333;"><strong>Age-appropriate toys, devices, and screen time.</strong> Provide information about volume control, placing tape over speakers, removing batteries, limiting frequency and duration of use, and implementing noise-canceling technologies. </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333;"><strong>Occupational and leisure exposure.</strong> Counsel adolescents involved in noisy occupations or leisure activities (e.g., shooting sports, noisy events) to use hearing protection or relocate away from the noise source when possible. </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333;"><strong>Hospital setting exposure. </strong>Provide hearing protection to pediatric patients undergoing a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan and to families/care providers and patients as needed. Limit noise exposure in neonatal intensive care units to less than 45 dB.</span></li>
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Children with a history of excessive noise exposure and children with tinnitus or hyperacusis should be recommended for formal hearing evaluation.
