There's a new study that doctors say parents should know about. The University of Alberta health study states that popping balloons can cause permanent hearing damage to children. Yvonne Thomas spoke to local doctors who verified the study.
It's probably something that's happened to you or your children before. “It's not something that you think about,” said Christy Peterson, Pediatrician with Navicent Health. “You can definitely see how it's disturbing and some people hate it more than other people.”
Not only can popping balloons make you uncomfortable, doctors say it can make your children hard of hearing. “The closer it is to your ear, the more damage it can do to your hearing,” said Peterson.
The University of Alberta released a recent health study stating that popping balloons can cause permanent hearing damage to children. “The study brought out some interesting comparisons of a popped balloon to possibly a gunshot,” said Peterson.
The Center for Hearing, Speech and Language states that any noise above 130 decibels can cause hearing damage. When fired a 12-gauge shotgun hits 165 decibels and a tightly inflated balloon pops at 168 decibels. “That's something very loud that you wouldn't want your ears exposed to or especially your children’s ears exposed to,” said Peterson.
Local Audiologist Sarah Buchner with the Georgia Hearing Institute agrees. "Impulse sounds, like the balloon pop or a gunshot can be dangerous to the inner ear, from the acoustic trauma, causing damage that we cannot always immediately measure via standard hearing tests,” said Buchner.
Doctors say damage doesn't occur with just one pop. It happens over time. “We want our hearing to last as long as possible and the more loud noises that we are exposed to overtime is can have an effect on that,” said Peterson.
Pediatrician Christy Perterson says if your child is playing with balloons be sure to keep an eye on them. Peterson says, it can also be dangerous if a child ingests pieces of a balloon after it's popped.