World Hearing Day is an annual awareness day every March 3 that the World Health Organization (WHO) created to promote hearing health globally. The theme for this year’s World Hearing Day is: “To hear for life, listen with care!” Here at Hearing Health Foundation (HHF), we couldn’t agree more.
With or Without Significant Hearing Loss, Older Mice Show Difficulty With Brain Processing
This new research indicates that even mild hearing loss with aging may result in a decline in temporal processing under challenging conditions, such as environments with increased noise.
A Wakeup Call
Whether you’re knowledgeable about noise-induced hearing loss or not, you would probably try to avoid things like having a trumpet blasted point-blank into your ear. But that was me, 10 years ago, in a 7th grade band class, crying from the pain in my ear and leaving school early so my mom could whisk me straight to an audiologist.
Hear Me Out
That I would have tinnitus or even a hearing loss wasn’t that surprising. I’d spent the better part of my adult life as a music journalist listening to loud music, either via headphones or at clubs and concerts. Back in my 20s my gauge for a satisfying night out was if the bass levels were so intense that my stomach hurt. Not the healthiest of benchmarks.
Just Because Hearing Loss Is Invisible Doesn’t Mean It’s Less Real
I think because I was in my 20s and thought working at a nightclub was fun and interesting, and I was surrounded by talented musicians and entertainers, I didn’t stop to consider that I was going to the equivalent of four concerts a week. Not even concerts with two-hour sets—more like multi-day music festivals with four bands each performing two-hour sets!
To Create a Culture Shift About Healthy Hearing, Start Young (and Other Key Strategies)
Finding answers to fundamental questions—such as, “Why does this age group enjoy loud sounds?,” “What impact does hearing damage have on this age group?,” “What will truly motivate them to use hearing protection devices?”—will help develop effective and sustainable hearing conservation programs.
Helping Others Has Helped Me
Despite all this, including owning earplugs, it didn’t occur to me until working on the Keep Listening prevention campaign for Hearing Health Foundation how damage to your hearing is cumulative, and that I’ve been doing additional damage to my hearing through some of my daily routines.
You Are Not Alone!
Do you think that you are too young to have hearing problems? Don’t believe it! I was just 50 years old when I began wearing hearing aids… and my hearing problems began long before that.
Common Loud Noises Cause Fluid Buildup in the Inner Ear—Which May Be Easily Resolved
Researchers discovered that after exposure to 100 decibels, the mice developed inner ear fluid buildup within hours. A week after this exposure, the mice were found to have lost auditory nerve cells. However, when researchers applied hypertonic saline, a salt-based solution used to treat nasal congestion in humans, into the affected mouse ears one hour after the noise exposure, both the immediate fluid buildup and the long-term nerve damage lessened, implying that the hearing loss could be at least partially prevented.
A Veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq Urges Better Hearing Protection for Soldiers
We often hear about the devastating injuries sustained by soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. Their suffering is profound and should be a bigger part of our national consciousness. We Americans should also talk about the most common disabilities experienced by veterans—hearing loss and tinnitus. These are less visible but insidious conditions that can seriously upend every aspect of veterans’ lives: their overall physical and psychological wellness, along with social interactions, even work performance.