In the New York Times Magazine, on January seventh, Virginia Heffernan wrote an article titled “Against Headphones”. In the article Heffernan explains how the use of headphones at a higher volume can cause hearing damage. Heffernan states that after five years of high volume noise, teenagers can inherit permanent hearing loss. Her article mainly pertains to teenagers and young adults. According to her article one out of five teens cannot hear rustles, backed up by a study published in the journal of the American Medical Association. Heffernan’s studies show that the percent of teens with hearing loss had jumped to thirty-three percent since nineteen-ninety four. Heffernan explains the use of headphones has accelerated since the creation of the Ipod. Her idea is that the reason people suffer from hearing loss is because of the high volume. In her article she states that the reason people listen to music at high volumes is to drown out the outside noise. This is a common logic to drown out noise, although hearing loss is not a huge warning when using headphones. Although Heffernan included factual medical data, the reader may doubt her argument due to the fact that it does not happen frequently and also does not pertain to all headphones users. To say “Against Headphones” may be a …show more content…
She uses facts from the creation of headphones to back up her argument. She uses the story of Nathaniel Baldwin, a tinkerer who evidently grew tired of the noises from the crowd. He later invented the first headphones because of his situation. She explains Baldwins story in order to educate the reader on the proper use of the headphones. Heffernan exceeds by stating “technology of submission and denial. By doing this she excels in grabbing the reader's attention. Although she informs the reader of the history it does not really help her argument. If her argument is against the improper use of headphones, informing us on just the history of headphones does not help her
For example, when she mentioned Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990 related to providing use TTY, “Title IV of the act, the part that Tim had worked… (enabling us to use the TTY to communicate with hearing people through the public telephone network) to provided for us,” (pg. 99-100). As for Title IV of the act, is the evidence of being part of ADA. Or for other example that this author wrote, “Prior to 1750, the lives of people who were born deaf or became deaf prelingually were unthinkable. For thousands of years, given no exposure to any language, and therefore unable to learn, the congenitally deaf had been considered dumb or stupid,” (pg.
Technology nowadays is getting more and more dangerous, especially to our ears. Every day we are subjected to videos, text sounds, alert sounds, alarms, and anything else that may be of use in life. These sounds seem to be happening more often which is damaging our ears. There is a solution to this damage though, and that is cochlear implants. These implants will bypass the damaged part of your ear to give you a sense of sound that can be made very useful to the patient. This paper will look into how the ear works, how hearing loss happens, why these cochlear implants are a good solution, how these implants work, cost and ethics related to these implants, and what the future holds for them.
Moore, Brian C.J. (2007). Cochlear Hearing Loss: Physiological, Psychological and Technical Issues. England: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
In Virginia Heffernan’s article “Against Headphones” she is arguing against the use of headphones. In her argument, she explains how the use of headphones leads to the risk of permanent hearing loss in teenagers and children. She also argues that headphones help isolate people and that people should start listening to music etc. together as a family. She uses several kinds of argumentative strategies which include: euphemism, propaganda such as the testimonial device, and the rhetorical appeals pathos, ethos, and logos. Heffernan’s argument in her article is effective because she has plenty of logic, facts, and statistics to support her thesis. She also tugs on her audience’s heartstrings by using their emotions. The strengths in her article such as the many facts she put in it greatly outweighed the weaknesses in it.
The unit used to measure the intensity of sound is called the decibel(dB). Sounds that measure up to 75dB are considered to be in the "safe zone". Constant exposure to to sound at these levels are very unlikely to cause any lasting damage to long term hearing. The sound of regular volume conversation measures at around 60dB and the sound of a running dishwasher measures at roughly 75dB. Sounds around the 85dB level are considered a moderate risk to hearing. Exposure at these levels for extened periods of time may lead to some form of damage causing NIHL. Sounds at these levels include heavy traffic and crowded areas at 85dB, active subway stations at 95dB and listening to an mp3 player with ear buds at maximum volume at 105dB in which listening for just 15 minutes can cause permanent damage. Sound at 120dB and above are in the "danger zone". This level of sound is to be avoided at all cost as exposure even for a short pulse will lead to immediate permanent damage. This level includes the sound of ambulance sirens at 120dB, a jet taking off at 140dB and gunshots at 165 dB and above. (Rabinowitz,
Sugar coating the past is the biggest sin a teacher can commit. They are doing the exact opposite of what their job is to do. A teacher’s job, especially a history teacher’s job, is to teach students about the past. If it is sugar coated, it is not teaching the truth. It is teaching a work, a fiction.
There has to be an understanding of how the ear works, what hearing loss is before looking at the treatments for hearing loss. Hence the essay will go through how the ear works and what causes hearing loss first. Then it will explain the diagnosis process before focusing on the treatments. the essay will be exploring the past, current and the possible future treatments. The essay will also touch upon other ways in which hearing impaired people cope with hearing loss.
The wheel is technology, not electronic, but still an early form of technology. Earbuds or “seashells” are seen in both societies. Bradbury describes Mildred with earbuds , “...in her ears the little seashells, the thimble radios tamped tight, and an electronic ocean of sound, of music and talk and music and talk coming in, coming in on the shore of her unsleeping mind” (10). Mildred, along with everyone in society today, use earbuds to drown out unwanted noise or thoughts. Incredibly, Bradbury is able to predict a device that the world would use to drown out their own life, so that “Every night the waves [would come] in and [bear them] off on their great tides of sound, floating her, wide-eyed, toward morning” (10). Bradbury also predicts interactive television where “‘They write the script with one part missing. It’s a new idea. the homemaker, that’s me, is the missing part’” (17). In today’s world it is similar to voting via cell phone or computer for contestants on American Idol or another reality t.v.
The term minority refers to the membership within a cultural minority group, but also encompasses other groups that lack equality, such as people who are Deaf and hard of hearing. Deaf and hard of hearing people are classified as a linguistic and cultural minority because of their inability to hear. Hearing loss may be inherited, or be a result of complications at birth. It may also occur as a result of chronic ear infections and or certain infectious diseases. Hearing loss can also be a natural consequence of aging. As we get older our hearing ability worsens and a common reason is exposure to loud noise. Over 5% of the world’s population – 360 million people – has disabling hearing
People like to listen to music, but what if that’s all they do? They always have their earphones in, and can never actually have time to socialize with others. When another person see’s someone with earphones, they tend to stay away and not say anything to them, because the other individual feels like they are bothering the person with the earphones in. Not being social can harm someone in the long run, growing up one is going to need to learn how to talk to others, how to work with others. But, how can they do this if they constantly have their earphones in and are not having any interaction with other humans? People need to learn how to socialize and make sure they’re learning these
Physical aging is a natural process that appears within psychosocial and behavioral contexts that greatly influence the progression of an individual’s experience of aging. Aging is often associated with greater exposure to disease and disability. The primary auditory disorder of many older people is difficulty understanding speech in noisy situations or competing speech, or that their communicators speak too fast, or do not articulate clearly enough. Age-related hearing loss, also known as presbycusis is a gradual and progressive hearing loss that affects most individuals as they age. Due to the slow evolution, adults with age-related hearing loss may not recognize that their hearing ability is decreasing, but if they do, they may acknowledge it as typical aging. Age is the greatest risk factor for sensorineural hearing loss, of greater degree in the higher frequencies and increasingly progressive. The term presbycusis reflects both peripheral and central auditory system dysfunction. Nevertheless, hearing loss is often mistreated due to its hidden sense that is always anticipated to be operating. Nevertheless, it is essential to study and understand aspects of several different types of hearing loss as it may be socially debilitating.
Hearing loss affects approximately 17 in 1,000 children under the age 18. However, it is more common in older adults. Approximately 314 in 1,000 people over the age 65 have hearing loss issues. Hearing loss can sometimes be fixed but other main types of hearing loss can not be fixed. Hearing loss is a serious subject that affects many people throughout the world, young and old.
The current hypothesis is that one of my genes is a mutated gene, that mutated gene is what is causing my hearing loss. If this is the real reason why I have hearing loss, there is also worry for what other problems does this mutated gene cause. With finding a mutated gene, they will most likely be able to predict how much worse my hearing will get. Another possible but not likely cause is a tumor, currently, I have to get an MRI to make sure that there is no growth inside of my head. If there is a growth, that will lead to some serious issues. The last possible cause is that loud noises have damaged my hearing, but it is even more less likely than a tumor. I am almost never exposed to loud music, concerts, or anything of that nature, which would causes hearing loss. Since I've been losing hearing since I was 5, they have practically ruled that one out because it makes no
Against Headphones In our increasingly connected world Millennials and generation Z are experiencing hearing loss at a greater rate than prior generations. Hearing loss means individuals often have a difficult time making out sounds of T’s and K’s for example. Headphone and earbuds, are common accessories today when listening to music. More and more individuals are turning to headphones to cancel out outside noises allowing them total immersion with no disruption.
For this assignment, our class was instructed to spend two to three days with impaired hearing. To do this, I obtained some regular green foam ear plugs and wore them while going about my daily routine. The plugs gave me a decent 30dB loss in my “mid” and “upper” frequencies. At first, I did not see how it would be possible to walk around with ear plugs in all day. I started to think what my other instructors would think, but being an audio arts and acoustics major, most hardly batted an eye. Truthfully, I thought I would put my plugs in when I wanted to jot notes down for my journal, but that was not the case. My ears became acclimated to the loss and I could keep them in for most the day. The purpose of this exercise was to reinforce the point our professor had been teaching us all semester; living with hearing impairment is possible, but incredibly challenging.