Health Matters: Loss of Hearing

Noise is the number one cause of hearing loss, it is making us deaf before our time. Add up all the other causes of hearing loss—age, injury, and congenital problems, and they still amount to only a fraction of the damage caused by noise. Therefore,it only makes sense that turning down the volume can save your hearing. Many objects in your home can damage your ears—vacuum cleaners, garbage disposals, leaf blowers, and shop tools.

Sound is measured in units called decibels. To get an idea of how loud a decibel is, normal conversation is about 60 decibels. Any sound above 75 decibels has the potential to cause hearing loss. A sudden loud noise, like an explosion, or loud noises over a long period of time, like continuous sounds in your workplace, can damage the delicate hair cells or hearing nerves in your ears. Noise damage is additive, it builds up over the years , gradually destroying your sense of hearing. Loud noise overstimulates the cells in your inner ears that conduct sound to the auditory nerve, it exhausts the chemicals in the cells. If the noise is just a brief exposure, the cells can ?recover. But if the noise lasts a few hours, the damage is permanent. The cells are destroyed—they have done so much work they burn themselves out. This can lead to hearing loss or tinnitus.

According to the American Tinnitus Association, everyday noises that might cause hearing loss include:

Blow dryer: 100 decibels
Subway: 100 decibels
Power lawn mower: 105 decibels
Chainsaw: 105 decibels
Motorcycle: 120 decibels
Fireworks: 120 decibels
Screaming child: 115 decibels

Recreational activities like woodworking, riding snowmobiles or go-carts endanger your ears. More than 30 million people are exposed to high-decibel sounds on a regular basis, whether at work, at play, or at home. Any time you have to raise your voice to have a good conversation, you are in an environment that is noisy enough to damage your hearing in time. And, if you leave a noisy environment and you have ?ringing in your ears, you have traumatized your ears. Here’s how to protect yourself:

Know your enemy. Be aware of what noises might harm your ears. Make sure your family, friends, co-workers, and especially children are protected against noises louder than 75 decibels.

Block your ears. Wear earplugs or earmuffs when you participate in a loud activity. These can prevent both kinds of hearing loss—that caused by a brief impulse (explosion) or the kind caused by continuous exposure. You can find them at hardware and sporting goods stores.

Protect your head. Head injuries—from car, motorcycle, and bicycle accidents—are a common cause of hearing loss. The impact compresses the inner ear fluid,which then squeezes against the hair cells so strongly it damages them. So wear your seatbelts and helmets.

Beware of fat. Saturated fat can block the tiny arteries feeding your ears just as ?it does the big arteries that feed your heart. The inadequate blood flow that results keeps your ears from recovering from noise damage as quickly as they should. Watch your diet, for your heart and your ears.

Eat a balanced and varied diet. Eatingwell goes beyond cutting back on fat. Zinc, calcium, magnesium and vitamin A all have been shown to benefit the sense of hearing. These nutrients are readily available in a healthy, balanced diet.

Get a check-up. Sometimes hearing loss isso gradual you might not notice it until it’stoo late. Schedule an examination by an ear,nose, and throat specialist and a hearing testby an audiologist, a health professional whocan detect and measure hearing loss.

Taking these precautions will make yourday-to-day encounters with noise a littleeasier on your ears. And remember, beforeyou plug in that vacuum cleaner, put in someearplugs.

What is tinnitus? Tinnitus is ringing or buzzing sound that only you can hear. Almost any ear disorder, some type of head injury, or certain medications—even aspirin—can cause it. This problemusually goes hand in hand with hearing loss. Symptoms include: periodic or constant sounds—ringing, buzzing, hissing, roaring or whistling; hearing loss.

“There is no question that stress and tension do exacerbate tinnitus,” says Jack Vernon, one of the foremost experts on the condition. “So you want to avoid that if at all possible.”

While there is no cure for tinnitus, there are plenty of management strategies. Read on to discover how you can take steps to deal with tinnitus, handle stress, and get the rest you need.

Relaxation therapy and visualization. By using focused breathing and positive imagery, you learn to relax. That means less stress tinnitus. and possibly, less severe tinnitus.

Biofeedback. This helps you monitor and control your body’s reaction to stress. Often used in conjunction with relaxation therapy, biofeedback uses your own nervous system as an ally in the fight to stay healthy.

Exercise. Sometimes activity can be distracting. While you’re jogging or playing tennis, you’re not focusing on the tinnitus.

Limiting your exposure to loud noise helps guard against tinnitus. But noise isn’t the only threat to your ears. According to the American Tinnitus Association, the following common items can make your tinnitus worse: certain medications, high-sugar foods, tonic water, stress, fatigue.