We live in a noisy world. You only have to walk down your street to experience the busy soundscape. A soundscape your ears are accustomed to and – in short – is more harmful to your ear health than you would expect. So harmful, in fact, that you might be losing your hearing and are completely unaware.
The most common is music. The music we listen to on our daily commute can pulsate around 100 decibels straight from our smartphone into our ears. This volume of music is safe for roughly ten minutes - but longer than that it can cause serious damage to our future hearing.
Let's put sound levels into perspective:
We are experiencing all these intense levels of sound daily and over time these levels can take its toll. The noise we experience every day is becoming more and more of an issue and with serious implications to our general health. This new wave of noise pollution is now grabbing people’s attention. However, how can it not when there are a steady increase in blood pressure levels, hypertension and stress levels, especially in occupational noise, Along with these rising levels, the percentage of people who are diagnosed with tinnitus and hyperacusis is also on the same rising path.
Whilst the research into how noise damages our hearing continues, audiologists are experiencing a rise in a new type of hearing loss - hidden hearing loss. What causes hidden hearing loss? In simple terms, it means that your audiogram can relay completely normal results, but you could still have some level of hearing loss or damage.
The common audiograms of today won’t flag up this type of hearing loss, as you are still able to hear various frequencies and volumes. However, this doesn't mean that damage isn't there. The loss becomes clear to the individual when struggling to hear and understand conversation in a loud environment.
Hearing loss is usually the result of the hair cells of the inner ear withering away over a period of time. People with hidden hearing loss don’t have this problem and this is another reason why they can pass a hearing test. What is damaged is the connection. The synapses that transmit the electrical signals of the sound you hear from the hair cells to the nerve cells in the brain. It affects the quality of sound and how you understand it – especially speech in noise scenarios.
Those noisy sound levels we walk through constantly aren’t acknowledged as traumatic – but they are enough. Living in a world that just keeps getting noisier means that hearing loss will present itself in younger ages and in different ways, whether it is hidden or not.
There is no cure for hearing loss - no matter if it's hidden or not - but there are various ways in which you can treat it. If you are concerned about your hearing - the quicker you seek medical help the more successful the treatment, like hearing aids, will be and ultimately your rehabilitation. If you delay getting a hearing aid, you could be causing more damage to your hearing. Over time, without amplification, your perception of sound can change.
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