Now Hear This, While You Can
I came across a piece of information the other day that pricked up my ears. Men in this country younger than 65 are nearly twice as likely as women to suffer some degree of hearing loss, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Among senior citizens the difference between the sexes is less dramatic, though males are still more likely than females to experience audio difficulties.
Wives and girlfriends often complain that their men are lousy listeners. But I had no idea that so many of my peers are literally hard of hearing. To find out why, I called David Fabry, president of the American Academy of Audiology. It turns out that genetics offers part of the answer: The average guy is born with hearing equipment that has a slightly shorter warranty than that of the average woman. But most of our hearing loss is self-inflicted, says Fabry, who is also chief of audiology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. The male world can be a very loud place, and noise is your ears’ No. 1 enemy.
Many male-dominated jobs expose workers to a steady roar or frequent explosions of sound. Think of farm tractors and construction vehicles. Factory machines and jackhammers. Guns and grenades. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, or NIOSH, noise-induced hearing loss is the second-most common work-related illness or injury in the United States. Some jobs come with a virtual guarantee of hearing impairment. About 92% of miners, for example, are measurably hard of hearing by age 52.
But it’s not only guys in the rugged trades who find themselves at risk for hearing loss. For instance, says Fabry, dentists can develop problems detecting certain sounds after years of listening to whirring drills and suction devices. Even desk jockeys aren’t immune. If you often pop in a CD and crank up the volume on your headphones to drown out the din in your office, you could be exposing your ears to unhealthy levels of noise. Likewise, when you’re at the gym, if you blast the volume on your Walkman to ease the tedium of a treadmill workout, you’re not doing your ears any favors, either.
Many guy-oriented pastimes and activities imperil hearing: hunting, cutting the grass, using power tools, to name just a few. And I’ll bet audiologists aren’t thrilled about the growing popularity of NASCAR events.
Apart from all this aural abuse, simply getting older takes a toll on the ability to interpret sound. But noise has a withering effect on your hearing apparatus. According to Fabry, studies have shown that rates of hearing loss are low among people who live far from the din of modern civilization.
Here’s how noise harms your hearing. As sound is funneled into the outer ear, it passes through a canal. When it hits the middle ear, tiny bones work like a piston to create a wavelike motion in the fluid-filled inner ear, or cochlea. These waves stimulate tiny hair cells, which deliver sound in a given pitch to the brain. Loud sounds, however, can create tidal waves that literally tear apart hair cells needed to interpret that pitch. “They are obliterated,” says Fabry. “The tidal wave absolutely destroys those hair cells.”
He compares the annihilation of these hair cells, which don’t grow back, to losing keys on a piano keyboard. Like trying to play a melody on a keyboard missing a few keys, your ears will be able to process certain frequencies but not others. The result is fragmented hearing (total deafness is actually rather uncommon). Someone might say the word “thin,” for instance, but you’ll only hear “in.” If you keep exposing your ears to punishing sound, your hearing continues to worsen.
Hearing aids can help, but experts insist that most noise-induced hearing problems are avoidable. Federal law requires employers to ensure that workers aren’t exposed to noise in excess of 85 decibels (think of the racket made by a motorcycle passing at 20 paces) for more than eight hours per shift. If you feel your employer isn’t doing enough to control noise, contact your state or regional office of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Around the house, protect your ears when you run the lawn mower or use power tools for long periods. You can buy disposable foam earplugs for a buck or two at most drugstores, or invest in earmuffs; a decent pair will set you back about $20 at a hardware store. Look for muffs labeled with a noise reduction rating, or NRR; the higher the number the more protection they’ll offer. Be aware, though, that if you wear glasses or goggles, the cushions on some earmuffs may not fit snugly over your ears, allowing some noise to sneak in.
Fabry won’t hear of excuses that ear-protection devices are inconvenient to use. For hunters, he says, electronic earmuffs can muzzle the sound of gunshots and other loud noises but allow the wearer to hear normal conversation. Likewise, musicians who claim that regular earplugs reduce too much treble sound can buy special earplugs that mute tones evenly.
Finally, listen to the voice of common sense in your head. If you walk out of a concert or put down a chainsaw and your ears are ringing, or feel stuffy and blocked, take the hint and cover up next time. “Noise-induced hearing loss doesn’t bleed, hurt, or give any warnings,” Fabry says, “until the damage is already done.”
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Massachusetts freelance writer Timothy Gower can be reached by e-mail at tgower@mediaone.net. The Healthy Man runs the second Monday of the month.
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A Noisy World
Experts say that prolonged exposure to noise louder than 85 decibels can impair hearing. The more decibels, the less time it takes to do damage. Here are some average decibel measurements for comparison:
* A whisper: 20 to 30 decibels
* Normal conversation: 60 decibels
* Power lawn mower: 65 to 95 decibels
* Electric drill: 95 decibels
* Rock concert: 110 to 120 decibels
* Chain saw: 120 decibels
* Jackhammer: 130 decibels
* Stock car race: 130 decibels
* Shotgun: 170 decibels
Source: American Academy of Audiology
