People often take hearing for granted—until it is too late. Sadly, this includes children and teenagers who may not understand the risks to their hearing when in loud situations. They may not have been taught that once damaged through noise exposure, hearing does not return or that noise-induced hearing is 100% preventable if the proper steps are taken.
HearO Saves the Day, a new children’s book authored by Adele Sandberg and Sherilyn Adler, and illustrated by Caryn Marie, takes on the challenge of educating young children about how and why they should protect their hearing in loud situations. With one in five US teens experiencing some hearing loss by age 19 due to exposure to recreational sounds, the book is a must-read for all parents and their young children.
HearO Saves the Day with Tips for Protecting Hearing
Written for children 4-8 years old, the book takes readers on an adventure of music, health, and hearing protection. When a young girl’s ears call out for help because a loud band is playing in the park, SuperHearO teams up with other children to save the day.
As the journey unfolds, the children learn the basic mechanics of hearing and use their superpowers to successfully protect their friend’s ears.
Readers also learn the four steps they can take to protect their hearing from noise exposure.
- Pay attention to the sounds around us to determine if they are too loud for safety.
- Turn down the volume to a safe listening level whenever possible.
- Move away from loud noise because distance makes the sound softer and safer.
- Wear hearing protection. Earplugs and/or headphones shield our ears from loud noise.
The back of the book contains a kid-friendly checklist for how to become a SuperHearO by protecting their hearing. There is also an adult-friendly checklist for parents. An additional section shares important statistics for parents and educators that explain why protecting hearing is so critical.
Hearing Loss Prevention Must Start Early
Many years ago, I visited my son’s first-grade class to teach them about hearing protection. It was the perfect age. Using a tuning fork, I showed students the sound waves in water and had them take turns using a decibel reader to show how sounds got quieter the farther we moved away from them. I handed out earplugs and showed everyone how to use them to protect their ears.
The kids loved it, and they absorbed the information well. For a year or two after the visit, I continued to get emails from the parents of other students in the class telling me how their children still asked for earplugs when things got loud.
Sadly, my visit was not repeated in later grades, and despite numerous requests, hearing protection was not added to the school’s health curriculum. That’s why this book is so critical.
Fun and educational, HearO Saves the Day is a great way to introduce hearing loss prevention to young children when they are still receptive to health information from parents and educators. If exposed early and often, perhaps the healthy hearing habits children learn in elementary school will remain with them for life.
All Book Sales Go Toward Hearing-Safety Education
HearO Saves the Day is published by Ear Peace Foundation Press. Established in 2010, Ear Peace Save Your Hearing Foundation is a 501(c)3 educational non-profit organization dedicated to teaching youth about noise-induced hearing loss and its prevention. All proceeds from book sales will go toward hearing-safety education.
The book is available to read on Kindle and in paperback.
Shari Eberts is a passionate hearing health advocate and internationally recognized author and speaker on hearing loss issues. She is the founder of Living with Hearing Loss, a popular blog and online community for people with hearing loss, and an executive producer of We Hear You, an award-winning documentary about the hearing loss experience. Her book, Hear & Beyond: Live Skillfully with Hearing Loss, (co-authored with Gael Hannan) is the ultimate survival guide to living well with hearing loss. Shari has an adult-onset genetic hearing loss and hopes that by sharing her story, she will help others to live more peacefully with their own hearing issues. Connect with Shari: Blog, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter.
