1 I'm a normal high school kid—that is, I like listening to music. Until about a year ago, I always liked listening to it loud. Loud enough that it filled up my head and pulsed through my body, so the boundary between me and the music disappeared. I've listened to countless hours of music—vibrant music pouring into my ears from headphones, washing over me from car speakers, or blasting at me from gigantic speakers at concerts.

2 But there's something about me that makes me not so normal. I have a hearing loss and a constant ringing in my ears that, unless some medical miracle happens, I'll suffer from these impairments forever. My ear problems are so severe that I feel I need to warn you: You have to protect your hearing as much as you can.

3 I'll tell you about my own experience, and I'll give you some scientific information.

4 I convinced my parents to get me a music device with headphones when I was eleven. When I was fifteen, I started going to concerts at indoor arenas and large amphitheaters. At the big concerts, you could always find me next to the speakers. A year later I was also going to all-ages shows at clubs—and you know where I'd park myself. After a concert or a club gig, I'd occasionally notice ringing in my ears afterward. But by the next day it would be gone. Yet that post-event ringing gradually got louder and louder, and it took longer and longer to disappear. Then one day last year I realized that the ringing was 24/7, except when I was asleep. I also had to face the fact that, more and more often, I was asking, “What did you say?” in conversations.

Pattern transitions are words and phrases that help organize a text and make it easier for the reader to follow an argument and help keep the focus on a particular idea. For example, writers may refer back to the thesis statement or main idea throughout the essay. Which of the following is a pattern transition in paragraph 2 of the passage?

a.
“warn you”

b.
“ear problems”

c.
“not so normal”

d.
“medical miracle”