The Sound of Silence

"A billion at risk for hearing loss from exposure to loud music"

By: Sandee LaMotte

Source: CNN      

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/06/health/hearing-loss-loud-music/index.html

  It happens to the best of people. People try to prove that they are "ballsy" by raising volumes to their highest levels as angry music is blasted into the dark confines of their ears. It is a battle of endurance, a mating call, a show of valor. They want to forget their troubles and immerse themselves into the words and melodies weaved by others. They do not wish to exert the additional effort in filtering out the external world through concentration, and instead seek refuge behind earbuds and adamantly keep their fingers locked on the button that keeps the noise to its pinnacle and the internal pain to a minimum. This is contemporary suicide. People are knowingly abusing their ears, merely allocating pain from within, generating a state without [hearing].

          "More than one billion teens and young adults are at risk of losing their hearing, according to WHO (that's the World Health Organization, not the rock band)" (LaMotte, 1). The risk is a result of damaging levels of music played on personal devices or at night clubs and venues. Countless artists experience the downsides of extremely loud music at concerts. Chris Martin, the lead singer of Coldplay, is among them; he suffers from tinnitus, or a type of hearing loss that brings about a constant ringing in the ears. These are indelible issues, but they are preventable. WHO recently release their Make Listening Safe campaign which advocates change from manufacturers on music devices and promotes education to consumers. 

         This issue is of upmost importance as 360 million people have hearing loss, with more than 50% of those cases being preventable ones. Music is sacrosanct, but abusing its power threatens to bring about the sound of silence. Perhaps the masses will find beauty in the latter as well...