Trips don’t always do a body good, especially ears and eyes

WAIT for a ride on a New York subway, and as your train approaches your ears are blasted with 90 decibels of noise, loud enough to do permanent damage after a few minutes. A jet plane engine gives off 120 decibels at takeoff, about the same as a rock concert. Car racing fan? The din is likely to reach 130 decibels.

Travel can be hard on all the senses, especially ears and eyes, but planning and common sense can help reduce the assault.

To counter the din, consider taking earplugs, protective earmuffs or maybe even noise-canceling headphones, says Dr. Sanjay Bhansali, an Atlanta ear-nose-throat specialist and a representative of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery in Alexandria, Va. Travelers often don’t realize at what point noise can become harmful.

“Any sound of 90 decibels that you are exposed to constantly for 15 minutes or longer can result in permanent hearing damage,” Bhansali says. “And you can get permanent damage in a shorter period of time if the noise is over 90.” Normal conversation is about 60 decibels; rainfall is 50 and a whisper is 30.

Bhansali says “a good earplug will give you 25 decibels of protection,” depending on the type. Foam plugs, sold at drugstores for a few dollars, reduce noise by about 20 decibels; wax or silicone plugs offer about 25 decibels of reduction; custom-molded earplugs, sold by ear specialists and on the Internet for about $75, reduce the noise up to 30 decibels. Protective earmuffs, designed for hunters and shooters and sold in sporting-goods stores, provide about 25 to 30 decibels of noise reduction, Bhansali says.

“The goal is to get the noise down to anything under 85,” Bhansali says.

Noise-canceling headphones, which cost as little as $30 and as much as $200 or so, might help. The devices target a particular frequency range, says James Dabbs, a spokesman for Plane Quiet, one model of noise-canceling headphones. For instance, he says the Plane Quiet targets the frequency range inside aircraft of unwanted noise and reduces it by introducing opposing signals to cancel the noise.

Wearers hear a slight hissing sound, which helps mask the background noise, he says, and reduces noise levels by about 15 decibels.

Are they worth a try?

“They provide some benefit,” Bhansali says. “You are hearing clearer.”

If the headphones are good quality, you should be able to hear music at the same volume on the plane as you would in a quiet room at home. One caveat: You still have to be careful not to turn up the volume when wearing the noise-canceling headphones, Bhansali says. Personal stereos, turned up to full volume, can damage hearing.

Other culprits

THE ear can be damaged by other travel-related activities, including scuba diving. It’s crucial to equalize the pressure, Bhansali says: “Pinch the nose and blow air into the ears until you feel the pressure equalizing.”

The same technique can work in an airplane cabin. If the pressure isn’t equalized, dizziness, hearing loss and ringing in the ears can occur.

Children or adults prone to ear infections -- or who may have one -- should be examined by a physician before boarding a plane, Bhansali says. The doctor will want to be sure you can clear your ears (by pinching your nose and gently blowing air into your ears).

Children who have had tubes inserted for drainage of middle-ear fluid will generally have an easier time equalizing pressure on the plane, he says.

Devices called Earplanes, sold in drugstores and on the Internet, may help, he says, but they are not effective for those who have severe problems in the eustachian tubes, which help to equalize pressure. Earplanes include a silicone earplug and a pressure regulator. They work, Bhansali says, “by allowing the pressure in the ear canal to remain the same as when you put them in.”

Take along decongestants and nasal spray if you’re prone to ear problems. Depending on your doctor’s advice, start them a day or two before and continue using them for a day or two after the flight.

The risk of swimmer’s ear, an infection of the ear canal, can be reduced if you dry the ear after swimming and wear earplugs while in the water. (Water gets trapped between the eardrum and the outer ear.) Take along prescription eardrops. And don’t dive.

Dry eye is among the most common eye problem that travelers cite, says Dr. Ernest Kornmehl, a Boston ophthalmologist and spokesman for the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Try over-the-counter artificial tears, available as drops or ointment, says Kornmehl, who is also an associate professor of ophthalmology at Tufts New England Medical Center and clinical professor at Harvard Medical School Boston.

Use them before getting on the plane, where dry eyes can worsen. The ointment can also make vision a little blurry, so if you have to read or work, don’t use it.

Contact-lens wearers should use rewetting drops. For severe dry eye, some eye doctors may recommend punctum plugs, tiny silicone devices inserted into the eye’s puncta, the small openings in the edges of the eyes, that block tear loss and keep eyes moist. They can be removed later by a doctor.

If your eyes become red and you are a contact-lens wearer, remove the lenses. If you’re prone to frequent eye infections, ask your eye doctor about taking along topical antibiotics.

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Healthy Traveler appears every other week. Kathleen Doheny can be reached at kathleendoheny@earthlink.net.