Shocque

I spent the whole day in Calgary! Unlike the other outings I have had with the public school kids, this was the home schooled group and they sure were curious about me. There were so many young kids hanging out with their parental units. The teens seemed to be hanging out with each other, which was no surprise. The cool thing was that they were all interested in my message about hearing loss prevention. I can't tell you how good that made me feel.

When we tried out their MP3 players in my digital ear, it was awesome to hear that loads of them were listening at safe levels already. I mean, the volume was turned about halfway to the max. No wonder they say homeschooled kids are smart.

We talked about how you can tell if music is too loud: it's when you can't understand someone talking an arm's length away. As for the kids who WERE blasting their ears - turned out they didn't even realize how loud their music was. They'd turned it up to drown out the background noises. When they turned the volume down, they were surprised that the music sounded better - because when it's too loud, your ears just can't cope and the signals that go to the brain get all distorted.

I think I might have saved a few ears today. Oh, life is good.

Now if only I could spot a cowboy...

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Wow! Today I flew to Calgary for a special appearance! For some reason I thought I would be lounging in comfortable seats, overlooking the wide world at 33,000 feet below as we soared west at 508 miles per hour! But let me tell you this: business travel is not glamorous! I was stuffed into my travel box, completely covered in bubble wrap, and placed in the belly of the plane with the cargo! It was cold and noisy, but I made it to Calgary in one piece.

Then, I went to a 'grown up' party to launch the Alberta Homeschooling Education Fair which starts tomorrow. They called it 'a cheese and wine reception'. No music - no dancing - no games - no fun! - and since I can't eat and I can't drink there wasn't much for me to do except meet and greet, smile and shake hands.

Lots of people came up to ask questions and check out my digital ear and my MP3 player. Some of them even complimented me on my playlist. I bet they were secretly wishing I'd plug in to the party sound system! Rock on!

Big day tomorrow though- and best of all, I will get to meet some of my favourite people: kids and teens!!!

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Today was my first official 'face-to-face' meeting with the kids. We went to St. Mary Immaculate School in York to meet some 5th and 8th graders. I gotta admit- I was a little nervous.

The 8th graders were sooo trying hard to be cool: they acted like they weren't interested in me, but I could see through that! They wanted to know if my head would explode if the music was too loud. Dudes - I'm made of plastic; I can always get another head!! I think they would have liked to see it. Something to think about for future performances!

But once they warmed up, they were great, and in no time at all they were very eager for a chance to try their iPods in my ear. Each measurement had to be shared with the whole class. And after my experience with Mr. Chainsaw back at Tim Horton's, it didn't surprise me to find that the girls mostly listened at a safe level - when a kid had the volume turned up into the danger zone, it was usually a boy.

Grade 5's were a blast - so funny and excited and enthusiastic and not shy at all! They thought my ear was weird looking, and I guess it would be, to them - they all wanted to touch it - 'Eeewww', they said, 'It's dead - it's creepy - Yeah guys, don't mind my feelings, just be honest!!

I learned another new thing today. Not all humans have iPods! I just kind of assumed everyone was issued with an iPod at birth. All the Grade 8s had one, but only a few of the Grade 5s did, and they passed them around so everyone could take a turn with my ear. They were so into it, they even stayed in at recess to play with me. I loved every minute of it.

But now that I'm home again I wonder: did we succeed in getting our message across? It's important for them to understand that loud music will permanently damage their hearing - but it's not just music. It's also snowmobiles, lawnmowers, snow blowers and loud TVs.

Here is an example of how NOT to use your MP3 player!

Here is how I explain to the kids how to tell if your ears are in danger:

If you are standing an arm's length from somebody and cannot understand them talking, then the noise around you is TOO LOUD.

So what can you do?

• Turn it down.
• Walk away.
• Wear hearing protection.

It seems to me that a lot of the girls are getting it. But how are we going to reach the boys?

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I'm still speechless with awe. I guess some people get used to it and take it for granted, but it took my breath away. And the noise! The roaring, crashing, thundering water... Guess how loud? 90 decibels! Stand close to that for too long and a human could really injure their hearing. I wonder if the Captains on the Maid of the Mist wear ear plugs? Note to self - must find out.

We went to a conference with the Niagara District School Board, and there were teachers, parents, and teenagers in the audience. Lots of these teens had their own kind of mechanical ears (aka hearing aids!), wired to pick up sound because their natural ears don't hear so well. They really enjoyed plugging their hearing aids into my ear and seeing how loud it made things. We also talked about the Widex Connect website, a really cool site with lots of articles about new music groups, and there are contests where you can enter to win gift certificates!

I was impressed by how aware these guys were of the need to protect their hearing. Their hearing aids control loudness and are set to only turn thing up so far. Just think - maybe by the time they're sixty, the kids with hearing aids will actually have better hearing than that boy from Tim Horton's with his chainsaw-volume iPod. It's like that old Joni Mitchell song:

Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got till it's gone?

Is this what humans call karma?

When we were done working, we went out to see the Falls at night, and they were amazing!

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It was my very first ever conference and I'd like to tell you how I wore a silk dress and rode in the back of a pink stretch limo... But alas, I was stuffed in a box and covered with a black garbage bag!!

V.O.I.C.E. is the Canadian network for kids with hearing loss. They have local groups all over the country. Today was their big annual bash. I was really looking forward to meeting the kids, but mostly what I got was parents and teachers. They played around with my special ear, listened to my MP3 player and learned about noise. And that's great and everything, but really the ones I want to reach with my message are the kids, direct and personal.

Next stop - Niagara Falls!

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