Deaf teens don't have to worry about going deaf at a concert

Chance's school had a lip sync contest this past week.  Chance and his brother joined one of the teachers and performed a wonderful rendition of Vanilla Ice's song, "Ice Ice Baby."  I did not get a recording of it as I ran in just as the song was ending.  Thankfully, one of Chance's friends recorded the performance so I could see it.  The performance won 3rd place and came with a trophy and a bag of chocolates.

After the show was over, a local band held a concert in the gym. Any of you who have attended a concert for teenagers knows that the music is usually loud.  By loud I mean that people in the next county can hear it.  This concert was no different and two giant speakers blasted music out into the gym. Naturally the teens all gathered right up at the front of the stage where the music was the loudest.  I joined the boys up front and enjoyed the music for a bit.  Having deaf children makes one think of hearing and loud noises differently than the average Joe. I couldn't help but think that I may be loosing some hearing standing there so close to the speaker.  Chance's brother apparently felt the same way as after a while he approached me from the side and said he thought he may go deaf with how loud the music was if he stayed much longer.

Then there was Chance.  Chance was standing right next to the speaker rocking out.  His friends were amazed at his ability to be so close and not be uncomfortable as the rest of us could feel actual hair cells dying when we were that close to the speaker.

The moral of this story is, if you are going to attend a rock concert with your deaf teenager, you need to remember that you and your hair cells are on your own with the noise.  Your teen is already deaf, so that is no longer a concern they have.

For your amusement, here is a dancing hair cell.  One that has not yet been killed by attending a really loud concert.