Did you know that chickens can restore their hearing? When the delicate inner ear hair cells dies, they can be regenerated. Unfortunately people can’t restore their own hearing. Maybe someday we will be able to do it, but not yet. So, the best thing is to protect what you have. Wear hearing protection when you are around loud noise. How do you know if noise is too loud? We are so conditioned to the loud sounds around us that we lose the ability to tell what is too loud. One of my … [Read more...]
Archives for August 2015
Sports and Hearing Loss
Did you know that sports can cause hearing loss? I am not just talking about the “noise” of the sport. Take soccer for instance. We are becoming aware that using the head to hit the ball can cause concussion. It can also cause hearing loss. Football, boxing, and wrestling can also cause hearing loss. Any sport that can cause a jarring movement of the head can damage the delicate inner ear. Because the cochlea, or inner ear is surrounded by bone and filled with fluid, intense … [Read more...]
Noise Exposure in Public Restrooms
Lately it seems that whenever I use a public restroom they have very loud electric hand dryers instead of or in addition to paper towels. Some of these hand dryers exceed 90 decibels, well above the level that can cause hearing loss. Very unpleasant. I encourage you not to expose yourself to this noise. If possible, use paper towels. If there are no towels available, I would encourage you to avoid the electric hand dryers. Not only are the dryers uncomfortably loud but that the … [Read more...]