Photo credit: Pixabay
by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
In a New York Times article titled “35 Health Tips Experts Swear By,” Dr. Frank Lin, Director of the Cochlear Center for Hearing and Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, gave this tip: “I make small efforts to protect my hearing, like covering my ears when I’m using the blender and wearing ear plugs at concerts. These exposures add up over time.”
We couldn’t agree more. In 2017, I presented a paper at the 12th Congress of the International Commission on Biological Effects of Noise postulating that what is commonly called age-related hearing loss is really noise-induced hearing loss in the elderly.
Preventing noise-induced hearing loss is simple and inexpensive. Avoid exposure to loud noise. If it sounds loud, it’s too loud and your auditory health* is at risk. Turn down the volume, leave the noisy environment or insert your earplugs.
*Noise exposure causes tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and hyperacusis (a sensitivity to noise that doesn’t bother others.) The noise exposures causing these two disorders are not well understood. It is generally accepted that if noise-induced hearing loss is prevented, tinnitus and hyperacusis will also be prevented.
