Back-to-school shopping may hurt your ears

After a busy weekend of back-to-school shopping, my ears are still ringing.

It wasn't the cash registers. It was the ear-pounding music in the hip stores where my children like to shop. You know the kind, the stores that challenge school dress codes and push parents' sense of decency. (Is it too much to ask that someone design a pair of jeans that actually covers a tweener's behind? Sorry, another column for another day...)

Clearly, a parent needs a wad of cash to spend on back-to-school clothes and shoes. But my experience this weekend suggests that parents and their children should also wear foam ear plugs to protect their hearing from the musical noise they will be subjected to in some shopping-mall establishments.

The notion of background music to create a certain atmosphere appeals to me. The right music — at the appropriate decibel level — can be very soothing or, as the case may be, invigorating. When we go to a fireworks show or a Jazz game, it's understood that it will be a noisy experience. Ditto for the movie theater.

But should we have to risk hearing loss to purchase clothing? And what about employees who are subjected to this audio intrusion for an eight-hour shift?

Not only is it noisy, it's very difficult to conduct business. Store clerks and customers practically have to shout to one another to ring up sales. Need that shirt in a different size or color? It might be more productive to point and grunt, rather than speak.

And why does this matter? It matters because exposure to loud noise can cause permanent hearing loss. Audiologists quoted in a July 18, 2006, report by my Deseret Morning News colleagues Jennifer Toomer-Cook and Lois Collins ("Loud noises may be robbing us of our ability to hear") said they are observing hearing loss in patients in their late teens and early 20s. People in their 30s and 40s are being diagnosed with hearing problems that will affect them for the rest of their lives.

The good news is hearing loss is preventable. We can avoid loud noises and places. Or we can invest in hearing protection, anything from cheap foam inserts placed on the outside of the auditory canal or more expensive ear muffs. We can turn down the volume in our home and car stereos. Young people, in particular, need to be taught to curb the volume on their personal stereo systems.