‘I scrambled to shush her, but this is my sister's regular speaking voice.‘Instead I lifted a single finger at him as if to shush him.’.‘Lily started to speak but Joe raised one finger to shush her.’.‘The woman who was my mother held me and tried to shush me.’.‘They started to shush me and told me to be quiet or I wouldn't hear her crying.’.‘One of the men stepped forward, holding up one hand, shushing his buddies.’.‘She stated, holding a finger up to her lips as if shushing him.’.‘I put a finger to my lips, shushing her immediately.’.‘Mika shushed him and did the quiet finger gesture.’.‘The other two shushed him quickly, then they shut the door behind them.’.‘As I chatted to Paul over a glass of bubbly, we were shushed by a grumpy old woman.’.‘I opened my mouth to berate him, but he shushed me.’.‘Pixie shushes me and says ‘I'm worried about that noise.’’.‘My three year-old cousin on the other hand, does not appreciate the humour or my laughing, so she promptly shushes me and returns to her trace-like state of staring at the TV.’.‘After The Beatles' first set he shushes the audience and says ‘Now be quiet.’’.‘All at once, Kathy became quiet and shushed him, too.’.‘Allie shushed her aunt and blushed at the same time.’.‘A woman answered giggling and shushing someone to silence before speaking.’.‘I'm quite bad at regulating my voice, as many people who've publicly shushed me can attest.’.‘She shushed him and signalled for him to move back to the other side of the battlements.’.Parents with newborns who are difficult to calm down need another, less risky option for inducing sleep, one without lifelong consequences. Like sun exposure, loud noise exposure has a cumulative effect it could be that “inevitable” age-related hearing loss is merely the result of a lifetime of living in our noisy environments with unprotected hearing. White noise machines (usually in a stuffed animal) placed right near a baby’s head can be equally dangerous. I had “shhh-ed” my daughters for countless nights and naps. The louder they cried, the louder I “shh-ed,” thinking I needed to do more to soothe them as I had learned.Ī new grandparent and supporter of Hearing Health Foundation (HHF) recently alerted me to this danger, and after testing the decibels of my so-called soothing “shhh” sounds, I immediately had a pit in my stomach because indeed the noise is loud-dangerously loud. I shudder to think how loudly I was “shh-ing” my daughters to sleep. (Please do not try it!) Babies have super hearing-the best hearing humans will have in their lives is when they are first born. The sound of someone’s forceful “shhhh” directly in your ear can actually be painful. I remember reading I could put my daughters at ease by putting my mouth close to their ears and making a strong “ shhhhhhhh” noise. I wonder how many children suffer from NIHL as a result of well-intentioned parents who relied on this harmful advice. NIHL is an epidemic for American children-one in five are estimated to have significant hearing loss before the age of 20. Alarmingly, sounds over 80 dB for an extended period of time are damaging and anything greater than 100 dB for even a few minutes can cause permanent noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). This is at least 115 decibels (dB), according to Oregon pediatric audiologists Heather Durham, Au.D., and Shelby Atwill, Au.D. He advises the “shh-ing” sound needed to activate a crying baby’s calming reflex is a rough, rumbly whoosh noise that is as loud as your infant’s crying. Nine years later, it has been brought to my attention Karp’s ardently recommended action of “shh-ing” my daughters is extremely damaging to an infant, or any human. I had always been around children, was the second oldest of six children, became an aunt at 19, had a strict pediatrician, took my parenting class seriously-and read “The Happiest Baby on the Block,” a best-selling book by Harvey Karp, M.D., recommended to me by other new parents. As most sleep-deprived new parents will attest, there also is nothing quite like the helplessness you feel when this tiny person whom you love more than anything won’t settle and continuously cries (after being fed, changed, swaddled, and is fever-free).īefore my oldest daughter was born I thought I was well-equipped to be a parent. Nothing in my life compared to giving birth and being able to hold my heart in my arms.

Shush sound effect