London - When your baby won’t settle, it’s all too tempting play music or turn on the television to help soothe them. But scientists fear it might be doing them permanent damage.
Listening to repetitive, continuous noise may have a long-term impact on the development of a child by hindering the growth of blood vessels in the brain, research suggests.
US scientists believe babies and toddlers under the age of two are at particular risk, with exposure to noise throughout the day increasing susceptibility to problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure and accelerated ageing.
They added that even relatively low sounds – such as a television turned on quietly or the background noise of a washing machine – could cause harm.
Researchers at Yale University played noise at 40 to 60 decibels – the volume of normal conversation, a vacuum cleaner or a quiet television – to young mice for ten hours a day, over ten days.
They found that the noise stimulation reduced the number of blood vessels being formed by 10 to 15 percent, significantly reducing the oxygen that could reach the brain, which in turn hinders development.
Neurologist Dr Jaime Grutzendler said: “The most striking relevance of this paper is that humans in a modern society are exposed to sounds that are quite similar to the ones that we played to the mice.
“There are children that are exposed to this kind of constant noise through environmental noise and persistent music.”
Dr Grutzendler, whose study is published in journal Nature, said more research is needed in this area, but added: “This is a public health issue which we think should be taken seriously.” - Daily Mail