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Show 16 HiSJtop September ;v 2, 1 999 ar hair loss contributes to dieamess by Maj. Linda Ruckriegel Chief Audiologist, Hill Clinic One in 10 Americans has a hearing loss that affects the ability to understand normal speech. It is the second chronic health condition in American affecting over 26 million people. The most common cause of hearing loss is exposure to hazardous noise. It isn't true that you can "toughen up" your ears. If you think you've grown used to a loud noise, you've probably suffered a hearing loss for which there is no treatment. No medicine or surgery can correct your . hearing. How does this happen and what does hair loss have to do with your hearing? Let me explain. The ear has three main parts: the outer, middle and inner ear. The outer ear (the part you can see) opens into the ear canal. The eardrum separates the ear canal from the middle ear. Small bones in the middle ear help transfer sound to the inner ear. The inner ear is bathed in a fluid and contains both little hair cells and the auditory (hearing) nerve, which leads to the brain. Any source of sound sends vibrations or sound waves into the air. These funnel through the ear opening, down the ear canal and strike the eardrum, causing it to vibrate. The vibrations are passed to the small bones of the middle ear, which transmit them to the fluid in the inner ear creating a wave motion. This wave bends small hair cells that transform the vibrations into nerve impulses that goes directly to the brain and interprets the impulses as sound. Loud noises destroy these hair cells and they don't grow back. As the exposure time to loud noise increases, more and more hair cells are destroyed. As the number of hair cells decrease, so does your hearing. Essentially, you go bald -- in your inner ear. There is no way to restore life to dead hair cells the damage is permanent. Since people differ in their sensitivity to noise, how can you tell when noise is dangerous to your hearing? As a general rule, noise may damage your hearing if you have to shout over background noise to make yourself heard, it makes your ears ring or you are slightly deaf for several hours after exposure to the noise. Sound can be measured scientifically in two ways. Intensity, or loudness of sound, is measured in decibels. Pitch is measured in frequency of sound vibrations per second. A low pitch such as a deep voice or a tuba makes fewer vibrations per second than a high voice or violin. Frequency is measured in cycles per second, or Hertz (Hz) . You are born with the ability to distinguish sounds from about 20 Hz, such as the lowest note on a large pipe organ, to 20,000 Hz, such as the high shrill of a dog whistle that many people are unable to hear. d Human speech ranges from 300 to 4,000 Hz. When the high frequenhearing impairment begins, cies are lost first. Loss of high frequency hearing will distort sound, so that speech is difficult to understand even though it can be heard. Hearing impaired people often have difficulty detecting differences between certain words that sound alike, especially words that contain S, F, SH, GH, H or soft G, because the sound of these consonants is in a much higher frequency range than T- noise-induce- 1$ In. vowels and other consonants. The decibel scale runs from the faintest sound the human ear can detect, which is labeled 0 dB, to the noise at a rocket pad during launch, rated at over 180 dB. Decibels are measured logarithmically, which means that as the decibel intensity increases by units of 10, each increase is 10 times the lower figure. This means that 20 decibels is 10 times the intensity of 10 decibels, and 30 decibels is 100 times as intense as 10 decibels. noise expoThe Air Force has regulations for above 85 dB to noise Habitual sure. during an exposure work day will cause a gradual hearing loss in a significant number of individuals and require the wear of hearing protection. Louder noises will accelerate this damage so allowed exposure times are cut in half for each 3 dB increase in loudness. For instance, exposure to 85 dB for 8 hours will start to damage hearing; so will exposure to 88 dB for only fow hours or 93 dB for 2 hours. When you are exposed to loud noises it doesn't matter if the sound is pleasing to the hearer, damage will occur. Think about the last rock concert you attended. The bands probably played for at least two hours and most rock concerts have noise measured at 110 dB! Think noise exposures, such as power about other lawn tools, mowers, or firearms (which produce at least 160 dB) and protect your hearing. You should remember to wear your hearing protection during ALL noise expoon-the-j- ob ur off-the-j-ob sures. It's a noisy world you live in so put a BANG in your life and Be Aware of Noise Generation. Don't end up a young person with old ears. k mm LIU W Li xm giia Pv G&annLEY'S: vy QMettncj a new eta in o most cases, 3jXib h I 0 0 g "pateHtJiiGntj" dental cafte we offer a gentle Air Abrasion In r "r- NJ" j i System. No needles, No Drilling and less time in the dental chair. Decay is gently "puffed away" for a more comfortable dental visit deserve. You ' ',' 7' 3S5 S. State, Modern Techniques Smile Whitening Go-:- ; n:Sd O2S-O02- 5 Virtual Reality glasses Painless injections Tooth colored fillings Implantswisdom teeth IV Sedation We will file your insurance claim for you. Sw H.A.F.B. 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