By Guest Blogger, Joseph Cerquone, Director of Public Relations for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)

Talk with Patricia Moisan about the impact of technology on kids, and she replies, “It’s created a whole new ballgame.”

Moisan, an audiologist with Clark County Schools in Las Vegas, is serving as an on-site hearing expert at the 2010 International CES for the American Speech Language Hearing Association (ASHA).

The “game” Moisan references is one largely of concern about the noise-induced hearing loss that can stem from the misuse of personal audio technology-listening at excessive volume levels for very long periods again and again.

CEA and ASHA have partnered to educate the public about the risks, something that Moisan says is badly needed, given the rise in hearing loss that she sees among the young every day in her work.

“All of this new techology is great,” Moisan says from ASHA’s booth at CES. “Unfortunately, there are lots of kids who don’t know how to use it properly. At the same time, many parents don’t know about the long term effects of misusing things like personal audio technology.”

Moisan says that the proliferation of technology has shifted the role of audiologists from being diagnosticians to “hearing conservationists.” It’s a tough role, she says, because hearing loss is what she terms an insidious “silent disability.”

“Noise-induced hearing loss can be hard for parents to detect and appreciate because it isn’t visible, Moisan says. “Nonetheless, it can have a profound and costly impact on a person’s educational and social development.”  Moisan adds that even though hearing screenings are conducted in Clark County schools, the nature of the screenings are such that kids with hearing loss can go undetected.

CEA has been a strong supporter of ASHA’s Listen To Your Buds campaign, which educates the very young about hearing protection. CEA and ASHA also have partnered to produce the Listening For A Lifetime brochure for CEA members which gives consumers protection guidance.

Moisan salutes these steps and she has her own for kids and parents.

“I encourage kids to set volume levels at three and to reduce the amount of time that they listen,” she explains. “Some are listening for hours at very high volumes. That isn’t good.” She also urges parents to monitor their kids’ usage and to set good examples.

“If you’re the parent and you’re going to blast the TV, chances are that your child is going to blast their form of entertainment,” she says.

Joseph Cerquone and Annette Gorey, of ASHA in their Booth at CES.