20 Rims

20 Rims

I can't help but notice just about everyone on my college campus with an iPod or MP3 player dangling from their pockets and the headphones blasting in their ears. I can't count the number of times a Low rider with 20" rims drove past me bumping their system. Seeing these things began to make me wonder, how in the world will these people be able to hear in the next 10-20 years. Will most of the nation need hearing aids?

We live in a day and age where music is everything. People even identify themselves with the type of music they listen to. For example, there are the hip-hoppers, rockers, punk; country cowboys and many others that can fill the list. I remember when I used to consider myself a hip hopper, I listened to hip-hop music, dressed in clothes designed by rappers, and I bumped my music as loud as I could in my car. But, one day I had an epiphany. I was coming to the realization that I could go deaf if I kept listening to my music as loud as I was. I remember having to ask people several times what they said to me, and this became very scary. Since then I have given my ears a break and realized that I need to take care of them.

Honestly, I think that the people in this society think that they are invincible. I think that many of these Low ridin', music bumpin', homies, do not realize the value of their hearing. What will happen when they no longer hear the music bumping in their ears? What will happen when the only way that they can enjoy a song is by feeling the vibrations run through their body? What will happen when all of America goes deaf and we all have to learn sign language in order to keep up?

The more people that are listening to high volumes of music, the more they are turning it up in order to hear it. The realization of hearing loss hit home to many "Hip-Hoppers" when rapper Foxy Brown came out and told the world that she is almost totally deaf. The rapper, who was 26 years old at the time, reported that she was diagnosed with sudden hearing loss in May of 2005 while recording her upcoming album. The rapper also stated that she hadn't heard another person's voice in 6 months prior to her releasing this information.

Hearing loss is a serious problem. A national survey conducted in the UK, found that 14% of the people who have MP3 players listen to them for up to 28 hours per week. It was also reported that more than a third of people who have experienced ringing in their ears after listening to loud music also listen to their MP3 players daily. The ringing in the ears is called tinnitus, which is a sign that there is damage to the hearing.

Millions of people have MP3 players and Apple has sold more than 20 million iPods. The RNID considers 80 decibels as a threatening level for hearing loss, 20 less then a pneumatic drill. It is reported that some MP3 players can reach 105 decibels.

I fear for all of those kids who talked mom and dad into buying them an iPod and the guy whose ride got pimped by Xibit because they are probably going to be deaf sometime in the near future. People do not realize how fragile we as human's really are until we lose apart of us that is important. It may take one of the homies getting his first hearing aid to really open the eyes of the people around him. He may even play it off until everybody else goes deaf too.

I hope God Willing this article will give you some insight.