A Wakeup Call

By Ben Manley

Whether you’re knowledgeable about noise-induced hearing loss or not, you would probably try to avoid things like having a trumpet blasted point-blank into your ear. But that was me, 10 years ago, in a 7th grade band class, crying from the pain in my ear and leaving school early so my mom could whisk me straight to an audiologist. 

Throughout middle school and high school, Ben Manley presented a program to prevent noise-induced hearing loss directly to hundreds of his peers in classrooms around southern Florida.

I sat through all the tests—raising and lowering my hand for beeps of various frequencies—and the audiologist delivered the diagnosis: While I may not notice anything for years (perhaps even decades), the damage I’d incurred would most likely result in significant hearing loss as I got older.

A decade later, I am fortunate to say I don’t have a noticeable, daily symptom like tinnitus (ringing in the ears). However, I do have more sensitive ears (a mild form of hyperacusis) and need phrases from conversations repeated more often than others around me do—all because of a split-second mistake made as a middle schooler 10 years ago.

Lifelong Consequences

At the time, my family and I had never really considered the dangers of noise exposure, but this experience was a wakeup call for all of us. After looking into noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) and related topics, we were surprised to discover how little we and our friends knew about it. 

We learned that even seemingly innocuous things like listening to loud music over time could cause the exact same long-term hearing loss as that one-time trumpet blast. While I had no control over what had happened in band class that day, I realized that people everywhere were inadvertently giving themselves the same lifelong consequences through their own uninformed actions.

A middle school student at the time, I thought it would be interesting to find an extracurricular activity that somehow related to my experience. Turns out, luck was on my side—when my family and I researched organizations related to NIHL, we discovered an educational nonprofit based just minutes from our house: Ear Peace Save Your Hearing Foundation, also known by its shorter name Ear Peace Foundation. 

Summer students at Juilliard School in New York City also heard presentations.

Founded by Adele Sandberg and directed by Sherilyn M. Adler, Ph.D., Ear Peace Foundation educates young people about the dangers of NIHL and how to take preventive measures to protect their hearing. If their classroom lesson had been taught to my middle school peers, it may have completely prevented that trumpet blast that left me with permanent damage! I was invited to become Ear Peace Foundation’s first student ambassador to help spread the word about the epidemic problem of NIHL and its simple prevention.

Throughout middle school and high school, I presented directly to hundreds of my peers in classrooms around southern Florida, a few classes in Illinois, and a summer program at the Juilliard School in New York City. The fact that I was a fellow student with a casual style differentiated my presentation from the everyday lessons taught by “the adults” and created an immediate connection with the other kids. 

The Ear Peace Foundation classroom lesson is interactive, combining information about sound and hearing with activities in which students participate. During one such activity, we hand out pipe cleaners representing inner ear hair cells and give the students a quick “dance party” in which they experience the pipe cleaners getting bent due to the dangerously loud noise. Most students find the lesson to be fun and engaging, and (most importantly) I can see they are visibly affected by the information they have just learned.

Classroom Lessons

Since graduating from high school in 2017, I have served on the Ear Peace Foundation board. During that time, my contributions have shifted away from the classroom and have been directed more toward creating and editing PSA videos, helping manage the organization’s online content, and participating in interviews, including one featured in a documentary film by Ralph Loop called “The Wonder of Hearing.”

I’m most proud of helping to develop and narrate Ear Peace Foundation’s free 30-minute classroom presentation, a STEM/STEAM lesson which can be presented in person, virtually, or totally online. In less than a single class period, any teacher (elementary through postgraduate) can ensure that their students have access to the critical information they need to protect their hearing! I hope that, eventually, this lesson will become a required part of all K-12 curricula, in the same way that schools already teach safety protocols (like using bike helmets, seatbelts, and sunscreen) and other science-based health information intended to protect students from the dangers of drug/alcohol addiction, sexual abuse, and bullying.

Of course, I also take actions daily to protect my hearing and, hopefully, set an example for others. I know that the silicone earplugs I carry on my keychain have inspired more than a few of my friends to carry their own to parties and concerts.

While it took an unfortunate injury for me to learn about the importance of hearing preservation, I encourage everyone reading about my experience to make it a priority to learn about NIHL and its prevention and to share that information with young people. It is especially important to reach children and young adults since they are the ones who so often expose themselves to loud sound and, unknowingly, put their future hearing at risk.

Ben Manley is in his fifth-year master’s program at the University of Michigan, graduating in May with a master’s in computer science. He will be moving to Seattle for full-time work in August. For more, see Ear Peace Save Your Hearing Foundation, a partner with HHF on the Keep Listening prevention campaign. Read more from Ear Peace Foundation in our Summer 2021 issue of Hearing Health magazine.

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