Hearing Loss Help  

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A recent report out of Norway (September 11, 2008) revealed a shocking statistic. “One in six children are affected by kindergarten noise.” One in four employees suffer permanent hearing loss for the same reason.

Figures published by the pre-school teacher’s union and work safety authorities indicate that stress, headaches, tinnitus, learning difficulties and at worst, impaired hearing can affect children in noisy kindergartens, according to daily newspaper Dagbladet.

According to a Labor Inspection Authority report from 2005, 75 percent of kindergarten employees are exposed to harmful levels of noise at work. This means that the kids are also exposed to these same harmful sound levels.

Things are no better over here. Many kindergartens are noisy places. I know. My younger daughter works in one. But this does not have to be. She told me the remarkable difference in noise levels in Montessori schools she has also taught in. Maybe the kindergartens should learn how the Montessori schools control excessive racket and do the same. Reducing this harmful racket will benefit both the kids and the staff.

Aftenposten English Web Desk / NTB

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A lady wrote:

 I have an iPod. Music on the iPod sounds very good to me. The other day I downloaded many tunes from the iTune Store and was excited about being able to listen to all the oldies from the 50′s. I did a lot of listening with ear buds that day. The next day I listened to my down loaded tunes and I was disappointed. Everything had an extra edge to it; hard to describe but sort of like static and raspy. Real speech sounded that way to me as well. My ears felt like they had weights in them. I had more ringing in the ears than usual, the aids felt like ear plugs and I took them out. Ordinarily I don’t feel them in my ears at all. This condition went on for about a week and I was very discouraged. What is going on? Does listening to music with headphones or ear buds for too long bring this on?

You are right—too much of a good thing ends up being a bad thing, especially if you are listening to the music at louder volumes. Sustained louder sounds such as you would experience when listening to music with the volume up causes noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL).

In fact you describe 3 of thee classic symptoms of noise-induced hearing loss.

First, you have the “plugged up” feeling. You describe it as your ears feeling “like they had weights in them” and “my hearing aids felt like ear plugs”. This muffled hearing is a sign that you have had the volume too loud for too long. You are now experiencing some degree of temporary hearing loss—what doctors call a temporary threshold shift. This makes everything sound muffled, or as though you are hearing through a fog. The more often you expose your ears to loud sounds, the longer this threshold shift will last, until finally you will be left with further permanent hearing loss.

Second, you have increased tinnitus. As you say, “I had more ringing in my ears than usual.” Any sounds that cause your ears to ring (or your existing ringing to get louder) indicates that you are exposing your ears to damaging levels of sound. This tinnitus is your first warning that the sound is too loud—so you need to immediately turn the volume down and/or give your ears a rest.

Third, you have distorted hearing, which you describe as “everything had an extra edge to it; hard to describe but sort of like static and raspy”.

The good news is that if you give your ears a rest from all loud sounds, often your hearing will go back to normal and the ringing and distortion will disappear too. In this case, it took your ears a whole week. That is quite long. Often it only takes minutes to a few hours. As I said, the more often your ears are exposed to loud sounds, the longer it takes them to recover. I’d be very careful in the future, because one day if you keep on listening to music at that volume and for extended periods, these symptoms will never go away—and you do not want that!

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A man wrote:

I do not expose myself to high noise levels either in my occupation or leisure. I do not listen to iPods etc. However, 5 days ago after a night out, when leaving a bar with loud music, my hearing felt dull. While my hearing appears normal, I now have a feeling of fullness and a constant ringing. I have scared myself silly reading all the forums and panicking that after 5 days, this may be permanent. Has tinnitus been known to go after 5 days?

I’d call going to nightclubs exposing your ears to loud sounds in your leisure time. You may have been exposing your ears to more loud sounds than you realize.

The feeling of fullness you are experiencing is actually indicative of a temporary threshold shift. In other words you do have a hearing loss significant enough that your brain notices it—thus you get this “blocked” feeling. The constant ringing (tinnitus) is another sign that the noise was far too loud, and you exposed your ears for far too long.

I’m glad you have “scared yourself silly”. Hopefully, you will now carefully protect your ears in the future. Too bad you hadn’t done that before. At the very least, have some foam ear protectors in your pocket, and put them in your ears before you go into noisy places, or leave as soon as the racket gets too loud.

Now to explain about tinnitus and whether it will go away. Typically the way it works is that the first few times you expose your ears to loud sounds the tinnitus goes away reasonably rapidly—hours or a day or so—but the more you expose your ears to loud sounds (and the louder the sounds are), the longer it takes for the tinnitus to go away. Finally, if you don’t wise up and protect your ears, it will never go away.

I doubt this was your first time in a night club, so I fear you have been exposing your ears to excessive noise for some time.

The main thing now is not to expose your ears to any louder sounds in order to give them time to “heal” if they will. After a month or so, re-evaluate your tinnitus and see whether it has gone away. In the meantime don’t dwell on your tinnitus or it will only appear to get worse. You need to totally ignore it by focusing on the loves of your life and let the tinnitus fade into the background.

In a month or so, it wouldn’t hurt to go to an audiologist and have a complete audiological evaluation to see the state of your hearing. That way you’d know if there was any permanent damage. I wouldn’t go now—give your ears time to recover, and hopefully the temporary threshold shift will go away.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

Hearing loss among younger people is reaching alarming proportions. Here are some excerpts of a recent report out of Mexico showing the conditions there—and we here in the USA are probably not all that much different—at least in regards to excessive noise.

The report begins:

The excessive noise found in the main cities of Mexico and the improper use of certain antibiotics are seen as the main reasons for an increase in the number of hearing impaired Mexicans…

A study carried out in a suburban area of Mexico City measured the noise levels in two schools, two manufacturing plants, a shopping center and a block of flats. Researchers found noise levels between 90 and 100 dB. (1)

Sustained sounds above 80 dB are believed to cause hearing loss, and these sound levels are much higher. Remember each 10 dB increase represents a tenfold increase in sound pressure.

The report continues:

135 subjects aged between 15 and 49 years were screened for hearing disorders. Researchers found that 35% of the participants suffered from severe hearing damage. Surprisingly, the group aged between 15 and 29 years was more severely affected by hearing damage.

Researchers concluded that the higher incidence in the youngest group may be due to unrestrained use of personal stereos. More and more people try to drown out the background noise by listening to music on their MP3 players, thus increasing their risk of suffering from hearing loss.

In addition to noise, the misuse of ototoxic antibiotics is another factor causing this hearing loss epidemic. Unfortunately, most antibiotics are ototoxic to some degree, while the Aminoglycoside class of antibiotics is extremely ototoxic. Adding to this problem is the fact that such highly-ototoxic antibiotics are often readily available in developing countries. Mexico is no different. “Unfortunately, any adult can obtain antibiotics without medical prescription in Mexico.”

One thing this report doesn’t mention is that when you combine noise with certain ototoxic drugs, the resulting hearing loss is much worse that what would have been caused by either noise or drugs by themselves.

(1) Hear-it Press, January 31, 2008

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
 

Loud sounds damage our ears. But how loud is too loud? Which devices produce sounds that are too loud? What can we do to protect our ears from loud sounds?

Excellent questions. The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry and the Oregon Health & Science University have put together a fun web site for you called “Dangerous Decibels” It consists of 8 modules that you interactively work through and learn as you go.

This site is suitable for both kids and adults.

As the web site explains, “This is a collection of games, demonstrations and activities that will answer three important questions:

1. What are the sources of dangerous sounds?

2. What are the effects of listening to dangerous sounds?

3. How do I protect myself from dangerous sounds?”

Intrigued? Get started. Click on “Dangerous Decibels” and have fun!

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

 Loud sounds damage your ears. That is no secret. Furthermore, the longer you expose your ears to loud sounds, the greater the chances of damage. That is just plain common sense.

What has this got to do with hockey? Canadians (and Americans too) love their hockey games. Unfortunately, the sound levels in hockey arenas often exceed safe levels. Therefore, unless you wear ear plugs, your hearing is at risk.

Just how bad is it? Let’s look at the sound levels observed during the 2006 Stanley Cup playoffs between the Edmonton Oilers and the Carolina Hurricanes played in Edmonton, Alberta

During the 3 hour game, noise levels almost never fell into the safe zone (sound levels below 85 dB). In fact, the average sound levels for 3 of those games was 104, 101 and 103 dB respectively. That’s loud! Peak levels recorded when goals were scored topped out at 122 dB. (1) That’s equivalent to a jet plane taking off! At that level, without ear protectors, you risk damage to your ears in just 1/8th of a second!

In these games, it only took 6 minutes to reach the maximum daily allowable noise dose. And remember, this sustained racket went on for 3 hours, not just 6 minutes! Looking at it another way, each person that attended these games exposed their ears at each game to 8100% of their allowable daily noise dose! And you wonder why so many people have hearing losses and ringing in their ears?

Therefore, if you are a hockey fan (or other sports enthusiast for that matter), wear the little foam ear protectors you can get at any drugstore for a couple of bucks. They have a rating of 25 to 30 dB. Wearing these ear protectors will bring the noise level down to below 80 dB where no hearing damage is likely to occur.

$2.00 ear protectors are certainly much cheaper than shelling out $2,000.00 each for the hearing aids you will eventually need if you don’t wear the ear protectors!

(1) Can Hockey Playoffs Harm Your Hearing?

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

 In December of 2006 I wrote about smoking and hearing loss and pointed out that smoking in the presence of loud noise makes your ears even more susceptible to hearing loss than either smoking or loud noise alone.

Now, researchers have published the results of a study on workers in one manufacturing plant showing just how severely noise combined with smoking can affect hearing loss. Here are the shocking results. Workers who were exposed to noise above 85 dB and who smoked had an incidence of significant hearing loss 442% greater than those who worked in the same noisy environment but didn’t smoke.

The researchers next compared the incidence of workers who had hearing loss greater than 30 dB between 4000 Hz and 10,000 Hz in both ears. The incidence of hearing loss was only 11.2% in non-smokers, but was a whopping 49.5% in smokers.

When looking at these same workers, but just considering hearing loss greater than 25 dB at 4,000 Hz in their better ear, the results were even more pronounced. Non-smokers had an incidence of hearing loss of 18.4%, but that figure sky-rocketed to 63.6% in smokers.¹

Therefore, if you value your hearing, you need to do two things. First, if you smoke, stop smoking. Second, wear ear protectors when around noise louder than about 80 dB for extended periods.

Note: smoking isn’t the only agent that has this synergistic effect when combined with loud noise. A number of drugs, chemicals (particularly the organic solvents) and heavy metals also have this property. “Ototoxic Drugs Exposed” (chapters 8 and 14) explains this in much more detail and lists the specific drugs, chemicals and heavy metals that have this nasty property.

¹ Extracted from “Interaction of smoking and occupational noise exposure on hearing loss: a cross-sectional study” Gholamreza Pouryaghoub, et. al. Dept of Occupational Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran published in BMC Public Health 2007, 7:137. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/7/137.

 

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

Air bags save lives—and for that we are definitely thankful. They also destroy hearing—and that is not so nice. Here is Lisa’s story.

Last week I was involved in what should have been a minor car accident. I wasn’t paying attention and “gently” hit the car in front of me stopped for a light.

What happened next was terrifying. The inside of the car seemed to explode in a deafening roar. I had an unimaginable pain in both ears and considerable bleeding from my ear canals. I also had a very loud ringing and was virtually deaf.

I was taken to the hospital where it was quickly determined that my eardrums had ruptured. I was referred to an ENT who said they should heal in 2-3 weeks, but possibly with scar tissue that would affect my ability to hear low sounds. As for the ringing, he said that could be permanent. He also said I had suffered inner ear damage that would affect my high-frequency hearing, although he said it was hard to tell how much. He concluded by saying I would need to face life “hearing impaired” and may need to look at hearing aids.

I have always protected my hearing and never would have thought about going to loud concerts or auto races without effective noise protection. I’m only 22 and I can barely hear conversation in a quiet room. With background noise, I am almost deaf.(1)

Lisa is not alone. Many other people have also experienced tinnitus and/or hearing loss when air bags deploy. In fact, the results of researcher Richard Price’s studies indicates that a whopping 17% of the people exposed to deployed air bags will experience permanent hearing loss. That’s a lot of people—almost 1 in every 5 people exposed to air bags going off!

Here’s another surprising discovery. His data also shows that contrary to what experts previously thought, airbag deployment is more damaging to our ears when we have the windows rolled down.

This is because the higher pressure generated in the closed cabin actually prevents greater damage to the ear. The pressure causes a displacement in the middle ear that stiffens the stapes, a small bone outside the inner ear. This stiffening limits the transmission of energy to the inner ear, where hearing damage takes place. In airbag experiments where the cabin is completely sealed and pressure is even higher, hearing damage is reduced even further.

Incidentally, Price’s study only included cars sold in the United States. American cars have larger, more powerful airbags than cars sold in Europe. Hence, cars with smaller airbags sold in other parts of the world would likely pose less auditory danger when tested under identical circumstances.(2)

The moral of the story, and another good reason to drive carefully and avoid accidents, especially “fender benders,” is that an air bag going off causes just as much damage to your ears whether you are going 15 miles an hour (and serious injuries are unlikely) or 80 miles an hour (where hearing loss may be the least of your worries)!

(1) Hearing Loss Web Forum: Issues: Air bags ruined my life. Accessed online at
www.hearinglossweb.com/discus/messages/12/733.html?FridayJune1020050444pm

(2) As reported in The Hearing Review http://www.hearingreview.com/issues/articles/2007-07_10.asp taken from: Price Richard. Intense impulse noise: hearing conservation’s poison gas. Paper presented at: Annual Conference of the National Hearing Conservation Association, February 16, 2007.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

Drag racing is exciting! So is watching drag racing. No doubt about it! In her article “Races Give Fans an Earful” (Gainesville Sun, Florida, March 18, 2007) Diane Chun sucks you right into the excitement.

Speed, a blur of colors, the smell of nitromethane and burning rubber. They’re all part of the experience that draws a huge crowd to Gatornationals.

But it’s the overwhelming noise that gets race fans where it hurts.

When a Top Fuel dragster throttles up, a wave of sound strikes your chest like a fist.

The smartest among thousands of spectators for Saturday’s qualifying rounds for the 38th annual Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway came equipped with both ear plugs and sound- deadening ear muffs.

The neophytes are probably feeling the pain of a day at the races today.

A nitro-powered dragster at full throttle puts out 120 decibels of sound. That’s not quite like standing next to a jet engine, which puts out 140 decibels, but who’d stand next to a jet?

On the other hand, spectators crowded as close to the Gatornationals staging area as they could get Saturday, not wanting to miss a split second of the action.

However the action wasn’t quite what some people expected. It took place in their ears, and it wasn’t fun! Bob’s son was there. Bob writes:

I talked to my son this morning and asked about the noise at the races, and about whether he and the kids wore ear protectors.

“Yes,” he replied. However, during a break in the action, he had taken off his earplugs. They were in his pocket as he was returning to the stands when it happened. Without warning, a nitromethane dragster revved out in full fury. He was about 100 feet from the car.

Before he could clap his hands to his ears, it was already too late. Instantaneously he said, it felt like somebody was pushing a pencil eraser into the ear closest to the car.

The next day he was still complaining of a definite hearing loss in that ear, and is quite concerned.

Unfortunately, this is how it often happens. Noise strikes when you least expect it. and when your have left your ears unprotected, even if it was just for a moment.

The results can be anything but thrilling. First can be the incessant ringing in your ears that may go on day and night, week after week, month after month, year after year—a constant reminder how you foolishly left your ears unprotected. Second is the instant hearing loss from which your ears may never completely recover. Third may be a lifelong sensitivity to normal everyday sounds that now seem far too loud and hurt. (This goes by the fancy name of hyperacusis.)

This is the real legacy of going to the races (or any other extremely noisy venue) that few talk about.

Thus you must not let your guard down—not even for an instant. Put your ear protectors on before you think you will need them and leave them on until you are well away from the noise. The one time you take them off for a few moments is the one time you may live to regret it.

However, if you are serious about protecting your ears, stay home and watch the races on TV. It may not be quite as exciting, but you will live to hear another day—and that is worth it!

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

Hearing loss is rampant among our youth today—much of it caused by listening to loud music for several hours each day. Just look around. iPods and MP3 players seem to be glued to many kids ears.

Since many of these iPods and MP3 players amplify sounds to dangerous hearing levels, it is up to the wearer to set the volume to a level that won’t damage their ears.

However, our youth seem to be addicted to loud music and thus listen with the volume cranked up to ear-damaging levels.

Now there is another solution. A company has come up with a unique idea—ear buds that won’t produce sound above 80 dB (the maximum safe level) no matter how loud the volume is turned up on the iPod or MP3 player. I think this is a great idea and one that is long overdue if you are interested in saving your kid’s hearing.

You can get a pair of these “iHearSafe” earbuds, for only $24.99 from Ingemi Corp’s on-line store. You’d do well to check them out.