Photo credit: jochenWolters licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
Noise-induced hearing loss is 100% irreversible but 100% preventable. That’s the quote from the UK’s Musicians’ Hearing Services’s clinical director, Paul Checkly, in clarinetist Sam Murray’s piece about why he uses the Musicians’ Union’s hearing services. As I like to say, I know a good line when I steal one, but I always give credit.
Checkly is in complete agreement with our CDC. Hearing loss with age isn’t part of normal physiological aging, but largely represents noise-induced hearing loss. Significant hearing loss is probably not part of normal aging.
Protecting your auditory health is simple and inexpensive. If it sounds loud, it’s too loud and your auditory health is at risk.
Turn down the volume, use hearing protection as Sam Murray now does, or leave the noisy environment.
If you do that, your ears will last you your entire lifetime.
