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It’s a noisy planet! Many sounds are safe, but others can damage your hearing. This damage is called noise-induced hearing loss, or NIHL for short.

Learn when to use hearing protectors, how to help children use hearing protectors, and what to know about different types of hearing protection.

Improving hearing health care for adults in the United States is an urgent public health problem, and contributing to solutions is a priority for the NIDCD.

Learn about the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) and its 30 years of supporting discoveries in communication and sensory research.

Noisy Planet’s Teacher Toolkit will help you teach preteens about the causes and prevention of noise-induced hearing loss. It provides easy-to-use resources and step-by-step instructions for fun activities.

Most children hear and listen to sounds at and even before birth. They learn to talk by imitating the sounds they hear around them and the voices of their parents and caregivers. But that’s not true for all children. In fact, about two or three out of every 1,000 children in the United States are born with detectable hearing loss in one or both ears.

Believe it or not, research shows that preteens actually do listen to their parents and follow their parents’ behavior. Use these tips to help protect your children’s hearing for a lifetime.

Un trastorno del equilibrio es un problema médico que hace que uno se sienta tambaleante o mareado.

A hearing aid is a small electronic device that you wear in or behind your ear. It makes some sounds louder so that a person with hearing loss can listen, communicate, and participate more fully in daily activities.

An ear infection is an inflammation of the middle ear, usually caused by bacteria, that occurs when fluid builds up behind the eardrum. Anyone can get an ear infection, but children get them more often than adults. Five out of six children will have at least one ear infection by their third birthday. In fact, ear infections are the most common reason parents bring their child to a doctor. The scientific name for an ear infection is otitis media (OM).