Dial it Down Now to Avoid ‘iPod Ear’
by Liz Thompson
It’s a noisy world. Maybe your ears are still ringing from all the New Year’s revelry. If they are, take heed if your hearing does not fully recover.
Overhead announcements blare in some stores, movie theaters send the sound blasting, and music in restaurants begs the question, “Why?”
Now that I have hearing again with a cochlear implant in one ear, I love all sounds. But when I literally jump when an announcement comes on, something is wrong. When I am traveling in our car and can hear music booming from another vehicle and all the windows are up – in both cars – I wonder again, why?
Recently we were at a local restaurant and I noticed right away the music was painfully loud. I looked around at people leaning toward others to hear their words. When the server came to our table I asked, “Doesn’t that music being so loud bother you?” and she said, “Oh, I’m so used to it I block it out.” Not good.
I asked if she would request it be turned down and she did. They turned it off and I was relieved. Now we could converse naturally.
Harvard Men’s Health Watch recently published an article, “Your Hearing May be at Risk.” I quote, “Call it acoustic trauma, noise-induced hearing loss, or, if present trends continue, maybe even ‘iPod ear.’ By any name, it’s the most preventable cause of permanent hearing loss… A sound’s potential to damage the ear depends on the duration as well as the intensity of the sound.”
We shopped for young and old, for the holidays. Music may have been at the top of many lists for young people, including iPods. The music goes directly into the ear and if the volume is 85 decibels (dB) or above, permanent damage can happen. A lawn mower spits out 90 dB (and this time of year we think snow blowers) and most people need to shout above it to be heard. If you have to shout above a noise, it’s too loud to be near without ear protection.
The Harvard article continued saying, “Once your hearing is lost, it can’t be restored; your only recourse is to wear a hearing aid. That’s why it is important to recognize the warning signs. If your ears ring or buzz after being exposed to noise, it’s loud enough to cause damage. And if noise exposure makes hearing painful, muffled, blurry, or distant for hours or days, you are already in trouble,”
Excessive, long-term noise may equal deafness but it also plays on your nerves and overall well being.
It’s not just young people who have music going into the ears and walk around with a cell phone plastered to the ear. People of all ages have developed habits of noise for every occasion. It seems as if noise equals fun or a celebratory atmosphere for many.
If you are thinking that if you go deaf you will simply get a cochlear implant like I did, think again. The cost more than five years ago was $70,000. Not pocket change is it? And the end result varies for each person. Each ear has more than 15,000 hair cells which generate signals to the brain. With my implant, I have 22 activated. That still leaves more than 14, 978 hair cells lying flat and useless in my ear. There are no guarantees and you are still deaf when the batteries die or you take off the device.
I was an amateur musician before I was completely deaf and I adored music. Even with my implant, most music sounds flat. Unless I know the song, or someone tells me the name and I knew it “before”, I can’t follow or enjoy the music. A different loss altogether.
Then you’ll learn sign language, you say? It took me close to 10 years to learn and use the language well enough to converse and then it was only with other people who are deaf. Think about how you will communicate with hearing people. No cell phones anymore. You will be text messaging your fingers away. Will you be able to continue your present work? All devices for communication for the deaf are pricey. I know. And getting employers to keep you on can be a challenge even with the Americans with Disabilities Act, which is still young.
Just think about it next time you shout over a noise, an announcement makes you jump, or you go to a movie theater and can still hear and understand everything even if you plug your ears with your fingers. Now is the time to protect your hearing, while you can still hear and understand. We can ask for music to be toned down, announcements to be softer and theaters to soften the blaring sounds.
Thanks for listening!
Published in Suburban News Publications
01-10-08
Liz Thompson is a freelance writer and former Suburban News Publications reporter who lives in Grove City with her husband, Bob.
All materials published in MSWorld™ are protected by copyright laws.
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