Hear today, gone tomorrow?

Do you often use earphones/ headphones to chat or listen to music. If yes, then it’s time you stop doing so. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) around 1.1 billion young people across the world face the risk of losing their hearing ability, thanks mainly to their exposure to noise in recreational settings.“Plugging your ears with ear-buds makes you look cool and trendy but this is not good for your ear health, no matter what your age is,” says Dr Reema Nair, an ENT specialist.

“Earphones can produce very loud sound, and being too close to the ear can cause maximum damage to it,” she adds. As per WHO data, in India the estimated prevalence of adult-onset deafness is 7.6 per cent with technology constituting majorly towards it, in a negative sort of way. “While hearing loss is usually associated with ageing, a large number of young people also experience loss of hearing, the causes of which are entirely preventable,” says ENT specialist Dr Yogesh Dabholkar, Medical Consultant, ENTOD International.

Doctors say that continuous and long-term exposure to loud sound makes the ‘hair’ cells in the inner ear (responsible for making one hear) lose their sensitivity to vibration. That’s when hearing loss sets in, for, these hair cells are neither replaceable nor do they regrow. “Hearing loss due to loud noise is called Sensori-Neural Hearing Loss (SNHL), and is often irreversible. Usually, it is progressive (happens over time), but it can occur all of a sudden as well. It is shocking to note that the cases of sudden SNHL have increased by 30 per cent in the last six months, in the 30-40 age group,” informs Dr Ameet Kishore, Senior Consultant, ENT & Hearing Specialist, Apollo Spectra Delhi, Nehru Enclave.

It is not just the loudness of sound but for how long you hear it that matters as well. This means continuous exposure to even not-so-loud sound can cause harm. “Prolonged exposure to sound higher than 85 decibels causes the noise-induced hearing loss. And, it is not just ear-buds and headphones but atmospheric sound (moving vehicles, heavy industries, construction activity etc) as well that contributes to it. In fact, such exposure also leads to hypertension, stress and tinnitus,” says Dr SK Jain, ENT specialist, Columbia Asia Hospital, Ghaziabad.

“The WHO standards for atmospheric noise in residential areas is 50 decibels while in many areas of Delhi-NCR this figure stands at 90, courtesy poor urban planning,” he adds, pointing that he gets four-five young adults every month in his OPD with complaints of hearing impairment. Another contributor to hearing loss is hygiene: “Left on the table in open, earphones attract dust and germs.

And when you insert these into your ears without wiping clean, you transfer all the dust and germs to your body,” says Dr Nair, who discourages the sharing of earphones as doing so also paves way for germ transfer. “The theme for this World Hearing Day (March 3) is Hearing Care for All- Screen, Rehabilitate and Communicate. What we need is a concerted action by the government, policymakers and caregivers towards addressing this problem,” says Dr Dabholkar.

Some tips
Between ear-buds (be it silica or plastic) and headphones, headphones cause less damage, as these are over the ear and have no direct contact with the ear canal like ear-buds have. Thus these don’t carry sound vibrations to the eardrums directly.

If headphones are a must, turn down the volume to the lowest possible limit. Noise-cancelling headphones are better as compared to regular ones as you don’t need to increase the volume because of noise.

Take breaks. Put down your headphones at smaller intervals. 

Sanitisation stops the build-up of bacteria, sweat and dead skin.

Avoid using earphones when travelling or walking as the surrounding sound adds to the decibel level.