PHEOCS INVESTIGATION

OF HEARING DAMAGE

By Matt Krause and Payton Claybaugh

PHEOCS Investigation

PHEOCS Intro

Parents often say that kids listen to their music to loudly. Well

we thought that it was time to test the theory and see if it was

true. To test this theory we used a Vernier Lab Quest and a

Vernier Sound Sensor. By testing a few subjects that are kids

ranging from 13-14 years old we found some information that

could prove the theory right or wrong, here is the

presentation showing you the information we found and

explaining how we did so.

Introduction

PHEOCS Background Information

Almost everybody you talk to is aware

that they should be cautious about the

level of music they listen to, but not many

change the levels they listen to music at.

Everybody is susceptible to have hearing

loss. It is like having vision loss, and

being deaf to being blind. 1 out of 3

babies have hearing loss so it starts at a

young age so you have to be very

cautious for yourself and others. You can

have hearing loss after listening to a

sound at 85 decibels or higher over a

period of time. A sound under 75 decibels

is unlikely to cause hearing loss if

listened to for a short period of time. The

highest decibel level possible of reaching

is 194 decibels.

Background

PHEOCS Questions and Answers

What is the decibel level of normal conversation at 3

feet?

The decibel level is 60-70 DB.

What is the decibel level of a telephone dial tone?

The decibel level is 80 DB.

What is the decibel level of a subway train at 200

feet?

The decibel level is 95 DB.

What is the level at which sustained exposure may

result in hearing loss?

The decibel level is 90-95 DB.

What is the decibel level of a

snowmobile/motorcycle?

The decibel level is 100 DB.

PHEOCS Questions and Answers

What is the decibel level at which pain begins?

The decibel level is 120 DB.

What is the decibel level of a 12 Gauge Shotgun

blast?

The decibel level is 165 DB.

What is the decibel level in which hearing tissue

dies?

The decibel level is 180 DB.

What is the noise level that earphones or

headphones can reach?

The decibel level is 100+ DB.

PHEOCS Questions and Answers

Nerve cells that carry electrical signals from the

ears to the brain have what type of coating and

what does it do?

Myelin sheath coating helps electrical signals travel

along the cell.

What does exposure to loud noises over 110

decibels do to nerve cells?

Loud noises over 110 decibels can strip cells from

their coating.

PHEOCS Questions and Answers

What are 3 signs of potential hearing loss?

-Three signs of potential hearing loss are difficulty

understanding speech, ringing in ears, or muffled

noises.

What are 4 recommendations for using ear buds

or headphones?

-Four recommendations when using ear buds or

headphones are limit your listening, don’t use max

volume, only use 70% of volume possible, and if you

can don’t use ear buds or headphones.

What happens to people who attend a rock

concert for longer than an hour?

- These people can suffer hearing damage that can be

permanent.

PHEOCS Our live expert

Our local expert that we contacted is Stephanie Long from ABC Audiology. This is

some of the information that she shared with us to answer some of our questions.

Audiologists help everyone from new born babies to very old people with hearing

loss. Most people don’t know that even tiny babies can have a hearing loss. In fact

between 1 and 3 babies born have some degree of hearing loss. Sound is measured

in units called decibels. On the decibel scale, an increase of 10 means that a sound

is 10 times more intense, or powerful. To your ears, it sounds twice as loud. The

humming of a refrigerator is 45 decibels, normal conversation is approximately 60

decibels, and the noise from heavy city traffic can reach 85 decibels. Sources of

noise that can cause NIHL (noise induced hearing loss) include motorcycles,

firecrackers, and small firearms, all emitting sounds from 120 to 150 decibels. Long

or repeated exposure to sounds at or above 85 decibels can cause hearing loss. The

louder the sound, the shorter the time period before NIHL can occur. Sounds of less

than 75 decibels, even after long exposure, are unlikely to cause hearing loss.

Stephanie Long

PHEOCS Hypothesis

The Level That F.W.A.

Teenagers Listen to Music

at Will Cause Hearing Loss.

PHEOCS Designing experiment

Materials needed to conduct experiment

Materials Needed

Data Logger with Pen Decibel Sensor Music Playing Device with Different Volumes Flash Drive (Optional) Ear Buds or Headphones Subjects to test

PHEOCS Designing experiment

Procedures followed to conduct experiment

Step by step Procedures

1.Connect sound sensor to Lab quest channel one

2.Connect ear buds or headphones to iPod

3. Have subject select song and normal volume normally used

4.Turn on Lab quest

5.Slide red Lever on sensor on low

6.Select length

7.Turn duration to 90 seconds

8.Go to graph

9.Select play on Lab quest

10. Select play on music device at same time as Lab quest

PHEOCS Designing experiment

Procedures followed to conduct experiment

Step by step Procedures

11.When done graphing plug in flash drive

12.Select file

13.Select save

14.Select flash drive icon

15.Save in a place where you can find it on flash drive

16.Repeat steps 3, 8-15 on different subjects

17.Unplug flash drive

18.Go to computer

19. Open graph on flash drive

20.View files from data testing

22. Find the potential hearing loss they could have and how long it takes to start having

hearing loss

PHEOCS Data Table

PHEOCS Data Table

Subject Time Per Day

Song Genre Headphones Time above 90

Time per day above 90 dB

S5 3 Hour

Two Worlds

Metal Hesh 2 Skull Candy

36 Seconds 7.2 Minutes Per Day

S6 5 Min

Break Rock Hesh 2 Skull Candy

0 Seconds 0 Time per day

S7 5 Hour

Time Pop Sony 57 Seconds 30 Minutes per Day

S8 9 Hour

The Way of the Fist

Metal Skull Candy Gold and Black

0 Seconds 0 Time per day

PHEOCS Observations-Subject 1

Our Tests

PHEOCS Observations-Subject 2

Our Tests

PHEOCS Observations-Subject 3

Our Tests

PHEOCS Observations-Subject 4

Our Tests

PHEOCS Observations-Subject 5

Our Tests

PHEOCS Observations-Subject 6

Our Tests

PHEOCS Observations-Subject 7

Our Tests

PHEOCS Observations-Subject 8

Our Tests

PHEOCS Conclusions

Only one of our test subjects would have potential hearing loss, but it would be after 8 hours of listening to a sound at

the same decibel level. The other three subjects that we tested do not have any potential of hearing loss according to the decibel levels in our tests. We discovered that only one

of our test subjects had hearing loss. We figured out that the kids here are doing a good job of listening to music

responsibly and at an appropriate volume. That our test of decibel level test may be slightly louder due to the

background noise. What we could do next time is that we could test a few more people to figure out their hearing loss

potential damage.

Conclusion

PHEOCS Conclusions

Because we thought that one of our friend listened to her music to loud so we wanted to know if she

had hearing problems and we figured out that when she was younger she went to see an audiologist we contacted that audiologist because she helped my friend with her problems. So we used this to help me understand someone better and how much

better it would be if we helped her along the way.

Why We Did This

PHEOCS Conclusions

Because everyone has hearing damage if you are deaf you had damage because you can’t hear I wanted to study the rate of hearing damage of

teenagers and figure out if teenagers have more hearing loss than the rest of us. People said that sticks and stones may break my bones but words

will never hurt me. I figured out that that’s not true words can hurt you by damaging your hearing. By studying the rate of hearing you can predict your

gradual hearing loss. Thus doing so you can your life now for the benefits of later on.

How This Is Useful

PHEOCS Observations

What We Observed Everyone that we tested was willing and ready to find out how they might be damaging their ears. And that due to

background noise the tests might be louder. Also that all of our test subjects had over ear headphones not ear buds.

Everyone’s graph showed that their music volume level was over the talking level of 60 db. We didn’t test kids that might listen to music louder than these four subjects, and we didn’t

test all kinds of music. Also we observed that the subjects listen to music for a long period of music per day.

PHEOCS Cite resources

Cite your resources http://www.sightintosound.org/images/ear.JPG Mrs. Stephanie Long from ABC Audiology http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/loudness.html http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=vernier+sound+sensor&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bvm=bv.41867550,d.aWM&biw=1440&bih=774&wrapid=tlif135973807577710&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&authuser=0&ei=5fQLUdKWIs6DrQGMt4DYCA&surl=1 http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sugexp=les%3Bepsugrpq2high&gs_rn=2&gs_ri=hp&cp=6&gs_id=m&xhr=t&q=ipod+touch&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bvm=bv.41867550,d.aWM&biw=1366&bih=642&wrapid=tljp1360080785213010&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=lS8RUbffOsq9qAG7y4DICg&surl=1&safe=active#um=1&hl=en&safe=active&tbo=d&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=ipod+touch+music+screen&oq=ipod+touch+music+s&gs_l=img.1.0.0j0i24l9.36155.41392.2.42503.20.20.0.0.0.0.97.1256.20.20.0.epsugrpq2high..0.0...1.1.2.img.K5dssocSwP4&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bvm=bv.41867550,d.aWM&fp=5a5fbc9caca647b6&biw=1366&bih=642&imgrc=hn1ZfZ3tHJ1fcM%3A%3BOWp30z88vMDMRM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fblogofwishes.com%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252F2007%252F09%252Fnew-ipod-touch-2.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fblogofwishes.com%252Ftag%252Fapple%252F%3B940%3B1024

PHEOCS Thanks

Thanks Goes out to Our teachers for their support

Mr. Hall, Mr. Lundstrom,

to Stephanie Long,

for Responding to our email and for our

Test Subjects for doing a good job