This is extracted from an email to Rou Xi.
Just an observation and I would like to share it with you.
We started to play nursery songs in the car about 3 weeks ago (the CD was a gift from a friend during our Sg trip and I have been resisting to play it) and now we are seeing the ‘effect’ or ‘damage’ on Ning. 她唱歌开始走音了。”客人来” 完全是五音不全.
Yes, she could pick up the English words from the song and even telling us the wording is different than the version we sing to her. But at the same time, she seems like forgotten the rest of the songs that she used to sing accurately.
We are going to ‘destroy’ the CD and tell her it is broken. Hmm.. sounds very unbelievable and extreme right? But this is what we experiencing and we wish not continue with it.
I am reading this book – Completing the circle by Thomas Poplawski and the author mentioned about the damaging effects of recorded music to young children too. Hui and I talked about this topic last night and we realize that not only the children but the adults are also having deterioration in their hearing sense.
Hui is very good in differentiate wide range of sounds, but he is deaf in a way. Hahahaa…
I find it so interesting because I am very sensitive to the decibel but not the frequency of the sound (Hui said it could be I don’t know how to enjoy the classical music and it does not mean that I am not able to catch the sounds)
Hui used to tell me about classical music and why he is so particular in the selection of CDs and speakers. I don’t really get him actually.
However, when he tends to play the songs or music a little bit louder, I get annoyed because it’s so uncomfortable. I could even feel pain in my ears.
I cannot talk long over the phone too.
“16 years ago the average German could distinguish 300,000 sounds, while today the number is only 180,000. For many children the level is only 100,000. This is enough for rap or pop music but not for classical music which includes many more subtle sounds. This decline in auditory sensitivity may be a major reason for the declining interest in classical music.”
This book was written in year 2006.
It’s scary to see that we human are losing our senses.
Did I tell you before that we stopped listening to music at home and inside the car for 1 year when Ning just born? I don’t know how we did that and when I look back, I think we are crazy. But now, I think it’s worth it. Plus, our case is different because just the 2 of us taking care of Ning, hence, it was a bit more restricted. I could still remember when Hui first started to play songs in our house when doing house chores after Ning turned 1, I was like, Gosh, I miss all these songs so much!!! And I felt like I’m 放生了. =P
I already told Ning that no more songs including radio program and CD inside the car once Jing arrives. Just like what we did when Ning just born. She agreed. Hopefully, she will cooperate with us when the time comes.
