Can Wearing Earbuds Hurt Your Ears?

Earbuds are tiny, lightweight, inexpensive portable speakers. They are by far the most popular choice for private listening.

 

Harmless, Right?  
Wrong!

 

Twenty percent of teenagers have a moderate to severe, permanent and irreversible hearing deficit usually seen in 70-year-olds. Why? Earbuds!

 

How Can Earbuds Damage Hearing?

Any sustained sound that exceeds a certain volume level (measured in decibels, dB) will cause hearing damage. Anything over 85 decibels (traffic noise, vacuum cleaner, noisy restaurants) is harmful. It doesn’t matter if the sound is pleasant (music, sporting events) or irritating and cacophonous (sirens, chain saws, lawn mowers).

 

Any loud sound for a long time kills the tiny hair cells that respond to auditory stimulation and damages the nerve fibers that send those sounds to your brain.

 

Earbuds makes the problem worse because:
  1. They are nestled inside your ear canals very close to your eardrum and inner ear.
  2. The sound is concentrated. Close proximity in an enclosed environment increases power of the sound about 10 times. And it’s aimed right at the organ of hearing.
  3. Unlike the old Walkman, whose battery died after a few hours, listening devices today (iPods, MP3 players) can remain powered for 24 hours. You can listen for long periods of time without taking a break. The ears don’t have a chance to recover from the onslaught of harmful sound.
Which are Worse: Earbuds or Headphones?

Photo of Hearing Health Center headphonesThe short answer is earbuds, because of the deep insertion into the ear canal sending stronger waves that quickly damage the nerve fibers. But headphones today, like Beats by Dre, which are made to fit snugly over the ears and boost the base, can be just as damaging depending on the volume and duration of exposure.

 

Most MP3 players can produce volumes up to 120 decibels. Listening at that level can cause irreparable hearing loss in less than 15 minutes.

 

And if you ever have ringing in your ears after loud exposure to sound – it’s too late. Your hearing may recover, but the dead hair cells and nerve damage never will.

Balance disorders are very difficult to diagnose and treat because there is often more than one underlying cause. Knowledge of all the sensory systems that contribute to balance as well as how each system works together and interacts with the brain is essential.

 

How are balance disorders caused?
  • Benign Positional Vertigo (BPPV) – BPPV is the number one cause of all dizziness. It involves intense, brief episodes of vertigo associated with a change in the position of your head, often when you turn over in bed or sit up in the morning.
  • Vestibular Neuronitis – inflammation of the inner ear
  • Ménière’s Disease – a buildup of fluid in the inner ear
  • Vestibular Migraine – dizziness and vertigo that may or may not be accompanied by headaches
  • Head Trauma
  • Multiple Sclerosis
  • Stroke and heart attack
  • Slow-growing tumors
  • Joint and muscle weakness
  • High or low blood pressure
  • Viral infections

How are balance disorders diagnosed?
  • Case History: one of the most important components in diagnosing balance disorders. Details about the imbalance can often determine which part of the inner ear or brain is involved.
  • Diagnostic Hearing Evaluation: the hearing system and the vestibular system are very close in physical proximity. They function together. Any part of the ear can cause and/or contribute to a loss of balance.
  • Auditory Brainstem Response: tests both the ear and the brain by measuring the timing of electrical waves from the brainstem.
  • Voluntary Eye Movement Testing: measures the ability to coordinate eye movements with head movements crucial for walking, driving, etc.
  • Videonystagmography (VNG): computerized testing that measures, records and analyzes eye movements under various conditions.
  • Computerized Dynamic Posturography (CDP): measures and tracks all of the components (eyes, inner ear, muscles and joints) involved in maintaining balance.

How are balance disorders treated?

Treatment of balance disorders consists of Vestibular Rehabilitation and Balance Retraining. An individual treatment plan is designed for each patient based upon the patient’s history, the findings from the diagnostic testing performed and the functional limitations caused by the imbalance.

 

The goals of all treatment plans are:
  • Decreasing or eliminating dizziness/vertigo
  • Improving balance function and safety
  • Improving visual motor control and tolerance of motion
  • Increasing activity levels
  • Reducing falls or risks of falls

Everyone (well, everyone over 50) worries about losing their memory and fears the “A” word…Alzheimer’s. We all know someone who has it; and we all panic at the thought of, “that could be me.” So we take care of ourselves. We try to eat better, exercise some, check our blood pressure and cholesterol levels regularly, and suffer through periodic prostate, mammogram, and colonoscopy exams.

 

BUT THERE IS SOMETHING YOU NEED TO KNOW. YOU ARE PROBABLY MISSING A SIMPLE BUT CRITICAL CHECKUP.

 

WHEN IS THE LAST TIME YOU HAD A HEARING TEST? GRADE SCHOOL?

 

No one wants to admit or deal with difficulty hearing and understanding. The majority of people assume that frequently misunderstanding conversations and saying, “What,” “huh,” “pardon me,” all the time is just another unwanted consequence of getting older. Difficulty hearing is usually dismissed and ignored: even by your doctors. Most doctors don’t even ask about your hearing let alone include a hearing check as part of your routine physical.

A multitude of studies at John Hopkins1, CUNY Graduate Center2, and elsewhere3 have confirmed definitive links between untreated hearing loss and brain function.

 

CONSIDER THE FACTS:
  • You don’t hear with your ears. Your ears are just an appendage to catch the sound signals and send it to your brain to process.
  • There is a specific area of the brain (Wernicke’s area) whose sole purpose is to decipher and make sense of the sound it receives from your ears.
  • Your ability to hear, process and understand is directly related to your cognitive functioning.
  • When your hearing diminishes, your brain stops getting the stimulation it needs to process information.
  • Lack of adequate stimulation causes deterioration. It’s a classic case of “use it or lose it.”
  • Your brain’s ability to hear, understand and process sound information is directly related to your memory. You can’t remember what you didn’t hear!
CLINICAL STUDY RESULTS:
  • 83% of patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s have untreated hearing loss
  • Even a minimal decrease in hearing doubles the risk of dementia. A moderate loss (the majority of people seeking treatment) raises the likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s 500%.
  • Every test of cognitive function was significantly worse in scores for mental status, memory and executive functions in those with untreated hearing problems.4
  • When your hearing diminishes, your brain stops getting the stimulation it needs to process information.
  • Hearing loss actually shrinks the brain one cubic centimeter every year due to the loss of grey matter and brain tissue.5
  • Diminished hearing ability significantly affects your kinesthetic sense of your environment. You are 300% more likely to lose your balance and fall when your hearing decreases.6
  • Early detection and treatment increases cognition, improves memory, preservers speech processing ability and enriches personal relationships
  • When treated with hearing aids, 33% of Alzheimer’s patients were reclassified to a less severe category
  • Appropriate hearing treatment increases cognitive function, enhances memory, improves balance and decreases depression.7
  • In every case, caregivers reported that hearing treatment improved their relationship.

 

Why do we frequently check our blood pressure, heart, cholesterol levels, moles , eyes and teeth? Why do we have regular checkups and examinations?
Because early detection and treatment is critical!

 

Difficulty hearing is not just an inconvenience and getting your hearing checked is no longer optional. Yearly hearing checkups are vital to your overall health can well being.
And it could save your brain!

 

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