Contents:
- Medical Video: Is Your Hearing At Risk? Tips to Protect Your Ears
- Acoustic trauma, ear injury due to noise
- Problems can be permanent or only temporary
- Who is at high risk for acoustic trauma?
- What are the symptoms of acoustic trauma?
- How to deal with acoustic trauma?
- Hearing aids
- Ear protector
- Drugs
- Can acoustic trauma be prevented?
Medical Video: Is Your Hearing At Risk? Tips to Protect Your Ears
Many people don't realize that their ear health has been disrupted. Yes, hearing noise every day can damage the senses of hearing. Loud or noisy sounds can cause ear damage called acoustic trauma. What's more, if there is a lot of disturbing noise around you, this will increase your risk of getting acoustic trauma.
Acoustic trauma, ear injury due to noise
Acoustic trauma is an injury to the inner ear that is often caused by frequent hearing with high decibels. This injury can occur after you hear a very loud noise or a sound from a lower decibel for a long time.
In addition, some cases of head injury can also cause acoustic trauma, if the eardrum ruptures or if another injury to the inner ear occurs. The eardrum protects the middle ear and inner ear. This part of the ear also sends signals to the brain through small vibrations.
Well, people with this hearing loss will not be able to get the vibration, eventually they will not hear a sound at all. Loud noises will be received by the ear in the form of sound waves, which will then vibrate the eardrum and can disrupt the fine hearing system. This can also cause small bones in the middle ear to shift or shift thresholds (threshold shift).
In addition, the loud noise reaching the inner ear can also damage the hair cells that overlay it. As a result the hair cells are damaged and cannot send sound signals to the brain. This is what can trigger hearing loss.
Problems can be permanent or only temporary
This hearing loss can be caused by sudden, loud sounds like an explosion. Explosions often cause the eardrum to be damaged and consequently conductive hearing loss.
Many people experience hearing loss after hearing loud sounds, for example after watching a concert or after working with noisy equipment. Hearing loss caused by this is often temporary and will disappear over time.
But if this hearing loss continues it can cause permanent problems. Usually permanent acoustic trauma will cause hearing loss in a relatively narrow frequency of about four kilosHertz (kHz). This means that people with hearing problems like this are hard to hear in high frequency frequencies.
In certain situations in everyday life, it might not disturb people. However, in a more noisy environment, people with acoustic trauma may have hearing problems.
Who is at high risk for acoustic trauma?
People who are at high risk of hearing problems are people who:
- Work in a place that uses firearms or hard industrial equipment, which operates for a long time.
- It is in an environment where high decibel sounds continue for long periods of time.
- Often attend music concerts and other events with high decibel music / often listen to music with maximum volume
- Exposure to very loud sounds without proper equipment or protection, such as earplugs.
Someone who often hears sounds that are more than 85 decibels, also has an increased risk for acoustic trauma.
Generally, doctors will give an estimate of the normal daily decibel range of sounds, such as about 90 decibels for small machines. This is done to help you assess whether the sounds you encounter make you at a higher risk for acoustic trauma and hearing loss.
What are the symptoms of acoustic trauma?
The main symptom of acoustic trauma is hearing loss.
In many cases, initially a person will experience difficulty hearing in high frequency sounds. Difficulty hearing sounds at low frequencies can occur later. Your doctor can test your response to different sound frequencies to assess the level of acoustic trauma.
In addition, another symptom of acoustic trauma is tinnitus. Tinnitus is a type of injury to the ear that causes a buzzing or ringing sound.
People with mild to moderate tinnitus most often notice these symptoms when they are in a quiet environment. Tinnitus can be caused by drug use, changes in blood vessels, or other factors. However, it is often the initial cause of acoustic trauma when caused by exposure to loud sounds.
If you experience tinnitus in the long term, this can be a sign of acoustic trauma.
How to deal with acoustic trauma?
Hearing aids
Hearing loss is treatable but cannot be cured. Your doctor can recommend technology assistance for your hearing loss, such as hearing aids.
A new type of hearing aid called a cochlear implant is also available to help you deal with hearing loss due to acoustic trauma.
Ear protector
Your doctor will most likely recommend using earplugs and other types of tools to protect your hearing. This is a part of personal protective equipment that the employer must give to someone who works in the workplace with exposure to loud noise.
Drugs
Your doctor may also prescribe oral steroids. However, if you experience a hearing loss, your doctor will emphasize ear protection to prevent the condition from getting worse.
Can acoustic trauma be prevented?
Acoustic trauma is the only type of hearing loss that can really be prevented. If you understand the noise hazards and avoid various risks of this disease, you can protect your hearing.
Here's how to prevent acoustic trauma:
- Know which sounds can cause damage (at or above 85 decibels).
- Use earplugs or other protective devices when engaged in harsh activities (special earmuffs, earplugs available at hardware and sporting goods stores).
- If you cannot reduce noise or protect yourself from it, move away.
- Beware of dangerous sounds in the environment.
