Hear Hear – How to look after your hearing
Hear Hear: Music may be key to our mental health, but have you ever experienced the buzzing or ringing in your ears when the volume is too loud? It’s common after going to a gig, festival or live concert and is an indication of hearing damage.
Like all big things so far this year, festivals and live events have unfortunately been postponed. Breaking news in that the organisers of Creamfields and Kendal Calling have announced their official line up. Both events have since sold out. What with the return of the festival season, it’s likely the events industry will quickly bounce-back!
Music fans, however, are being warned about the damage to their ears when listening to loud music as entertainment venues reopen, with health advice on how to look after their hearing as more of us than ever report hearing loss.
A staggering eleven million people suffer from hearing problems in the UK, according to the British Deaf Association and it is not just a natural side effect of getting older.
In fact, you may want to turn the volume down as its estimated globally over a billion 12-35 year olds are in danger of hearing loss because of loud music in entertainment settings.
Age is a factor and most people continuously lose a little of their hearing ability as they grow older. Globally about 33% of people aged between 65 and 74 are hard of hearing and here in the U.K, 40% of people aged over 50 years have trouble hearing.
What is hearing loss?
The term hearing loss denotes partial inability to hear. Someone hard of hearing may hear you, but only if you speak louder than usual or speak closer to their ear. Some cases of hearing loss are temporary, but others are permanent.
Sound intensity is measured in decibels db. The intensity is the dynamic range—the ratio of noise (distorted sound) versus (discernible) sound that a system can produce.
Dynamic range is perceived differently between individuals and varies with the frequency of sound.
The dynamic range of human hearing falls between 0dB and 120 and dB. Practically, sound higher than 90db can cause irreparable hearing damage.
The dynamic range of live and recorded music varies with genre due to differences in instruments, composition, and mastering.
Degrees of hearing loss
A drop of 20 decibels in your auditory acuity is still considered normal hearing. Hearing loss of more than 20 decibels is considered to be hearing impairment:
- Mild hearing loss: loss of 20 – 40 decibels; you cannot hear a quiet whisper
- Moderate hearing loss: 41- 60 decibels; you cannot hear normal conversation
- Severe hearing loss: 61 – 80 decibels; a rock concert sounds like a whisper.
- Deafness: More than 81 decibels; you cannot hear anything
Signs of Hearing Impairment
The below symptoms might indicate that you have hearing loss:
- Inability to tell direction where the sound is coming from
- Inability to tell apart different types of sound
- Trouble listening in noisy places
- Ringing in the ear /tinnitus
Protect your ears
The human ear is continuously exposed to sound from the cradle to the grave. This free online hearing test is one of the new and convenient ways to test your hearing health at home.
Acute hearing loss (short-lived acoustic trauma) may be caused by brief exposure to sounds above 140 dB. However, prolonged exposure to sounds above 90db can cause chronic hearing impairment.
Headphones and earphones come with a warning not to play them too loud; heed the caution. Also, consider earphones or headphones that go over the ear instead of those that go inside.
Avoid excessively loud music or entertainment settings that blast loud music. Keep in mind that sound can be harmful to ears if you have to shout to converse with a person at an arm’s length.
And if it hurts your ears, that is a sure sign that you should tune down the sound or find a quieter venue.
If you work in an unbearably loud setting, talk to your HR department. Ask for noise cancellation headphones or earmuffs. If feasible, switch to more silent machinery.
Note that sometimes excessively loud machinery means wear and tear in the moving parts—proper maintenance and service could save your ears and wallet.
Give your ears a rest. Silence is truly golden, as has been repeated over and over by sages of the world. Especially after exposure to loud noises, such as a wild night of partying (rock and EDM music), get at least 18 hours of quiet for your ears to recover.