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Loud Shirt Day
School Kit
This school kit will help your students to understand how kiwi kids are affected by
deafness in New Zealand, how your class’s participation in Loud Shirt Day will support
these deaf kids, and how your students can protect their own hearing.
A). Who is affected by hearing loss in New Zealand and how is it caused?
Deafness and hearing loss deafness can be something that someone is born with, it can be the
result of an accident or illness, or it can be something that develops over time. For those of us who
are lucky enough not to suffer from a hearing loss, it is hard to imagine what it would be like not
to be able to hear. For deaf kids who are learning to hear for the first time, it can be exciting and
scary.
Case Study: Meet Danielle Cooper, a 13-year-old girl
from Auckland who was born with a hearing loss
and used hearing aids on both ears since the age of
7 months old. Danielle’s hearing continued to
deteriorate as she got older and it got so bad that
last year she received a cochlear implant. Danielle
describes being able to hear with her cochlear
implant as opening up a completely new world for
her. Danielle received auditory-verbal therapy from
The Hearing House when she had her hearing aids
Danielle, Loud Shirt Day 2014 – here you
can see what a cochlear implant looks like
Visit The Hearing House’s YouTube channel to watch some clips of Danielle’s hearing journey.
What causes hearing loss?
Apart from being born with a hearing loss, or suffering from an illness or accident, individuals can
develop a hearing loss by listening to high level of noise excessively. Sometimes we may not even
be aware that our hearing is being damaged because these might be situations that we encounter
everyday such as listening to your iPod, mowing the lawns, drying your hair with an electric hair
dryer or attending a music concert.
This is why it is important to stay aware of the level of noise that your ears are exposed to because
too much exposure for too long can be harmful.
Here are a few examples of well-known celebrities who suffer from deafness and hearing
impairments:
Whoopi Goldberg - Star of stage and screen Whoopi Goldberg has
openly discussed her hearing loss and the fact that she wears hearing
aids in both ears. She believes that her hearing was damaged by
listening to very loud music too close to her ears for many years.
Will.i.am - As one-fourth of the super group the Black Eyed Peas,
will.i.am has become a star. His career reached an even higher status
when the group took a break and he launched a solo career along
with producing hits for some of the biggest acts in music. However,
all of that has come with a price. Will.i.am suffers from tinnitus,
which is a permanent ringing in his ear that can be caused by loud
noise. “I don’t know what silence sounds like any more,” says Will.
Lou Ferrigno – “The Hulk ” was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York
and as a baby he suffered from a series of ear infections that resulted
in 75-80% hearing loss, although it he wasn’t diagnosed until he was
three years old.
Here is a table that will help you understand the level of noise you
might be exposed to:
NOISE SOURCE
Whisper/rustle of leaves
Whisper
Birds chirping
Normal conversation
Conversation in a restaurant
Car Traffic
Hair Dryer
MP3/CD
Motorcycle
Jackhammer
Football Stadium & nightclub
Decibel LEVEL
20
30
40
50
60
70
80-90
80
90+
100
110
Stereo with headphones
Live music concerts/ chainsaw
Firecrackers
Rock Bands
“Boom” Cars
Infants’ squeaky toys
112
120+
125-155 (distance of 10 feet)
130+
140+
140+
Gunshots
150-167
Explosion
180
B). Look after your ears
What can you do to protect your ears from hearing loss and deafness?
-
-
Wear ear protection when you are exposed to loud noises to reduce the harm to your ears
i.e. earmuffs or earplugs.
When you are listening to music make sure you take a 10 minute break from sound every
hour to give your ears a chance to recover. If you are at a music concert that runs for
longer than an hour it is important to rest your ears for even longer. It is recommended
that
Your ears should not be exposed to more than 85 decibels a day.
Make sure you listen to music at a comfortable level. If the volume of the music is making
you feel uncomfortable it is probably damaging your ears.
How loud is too loud?
dB Level
85
85+
90+
90+
100
130
140
180
Activity/Frequency
Normal sound level
For eight hours
continually
Background noise
Frequent participation in
leisure activities at this
level or above
Continual exposure
Any exposure
Few seconds exposure
At the level of an
explosion
Probable Outcome
OK
Permanent hearing loss
Difficult to hear
conversation even when
shouting
increases of hearing loss
by 10%.
Safe for only 15 minutes
Ears hurt
Permanent loss
Ear drum bursts causing
permanent damage
C). What is a cochlear implant and how does it work?
The simplest way to explain a cochlear implant is that it is a device
that allows deaf people to listen. The level of the person’s hearing
once the implant is active will depend on the level of deafness that
each individual suffered from.
It is important to remember that once a young child who is
completely deaf receives a cochlear implant, they still need to learn
how to listen and speak because they have never experienced
language before like a hearing person experiences language every
day. This involves a lot of intensive language therapy. This is where
your support and donations to Loud Shirt Day helps children with
cochlear implants.
Simplified Summary of how a cochlear implant works:
a. Sounds and speech are picked up by the microphone.
b. The information from the microphone is sent to the speech processor.
c. The speech processor analyses the information and converts it into an electrical
code.
d. The coded signal travels via a cable to the transmitting coil in the headset. Radio
waves from the transmitter coil carry the coded signal through the skin to the
implant inside.
e. The implant package decodes the signal. The signal contains information that
determines how much electrical current will be sent to the different electrodes.
f. The appropriate amount of electrical current passes down the lead wires to the
chosen electrodes.
g. The position of the stimulating electrodes within the cochlea will determine the
frequency or pitch of the sounds. The amount of electrical current will determine
the loudness of the sounds.
h. Once the nerve endings in the cochlea are stimulated, the message is sent up to
the brain along the hearing nerve. The brain interprets the stimulation as a
meaningful sound.
Thank you for supporting Loud Shirt Day 2015 and helping deaf and hearing impaired children
learn to listen and speak around New Zealand.