Ear Safety
It is extremely important to take
care of your hearing while at concerts, while you listen to music in your car,
and while you walk across campus to get to your next class on time. Our ears
can’t sustain too much of a beating for very long. Permanent hearing loss is a
direct result to being exposed to loud music for too long, and you don’t get
that hearing back. The inner part of your ear contains tiny hair cells, that
are actually nerve endings. The hair cells change sound into electric signals
which nerves carry into the brain, which recognizes pitch and sounds. These
tiny hair cells are easily damaged by loud sounds.
A “decibel” is a unit to measure to
level of sound you hear. The softest sound the human ear can hear is 1dB. When
we talk at a reasonable level we clock in at 40dB. A rock concert is somewhere
between 110 and 120dB, however you can be exposed to 140dB if you are in front
of the speaker, Finally headphones in your ears usually stay around 110dB. But
how loud is that? If the human ear is exposed to over 130dB chances are you are
losing your hearing. Anything over 140dB and you are sure to lose some hearing,
almost instantaneously. People who are at a higher risk of hearing loss
include, musicians, crew workers on stage, anyone who listens to music often,
and also infants are quite susceptible to hearing loss. The way to avoid
hearing loss is simple, earplugs. As a musician I cannot stress this enough.
Earplugs are $1 to buy, (sometimes free) and they can protect your ears from a slow
and sometimes painful death. Wear them!!! It is worth it to protect your
hearing!! You only get one set of ears, and the hairs don’t grow back, be smart
about your listening!
For more information on how to take
care of your ears and the safety in listening check out: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/patientinstructions/000495.htm
This is a great investment especially for anyone who is or plays in an ensemble with a percussionist. Not trying to pick on anyone but those instruments are loud! a lot of amps for modern bands with drum sets have to have them because they have to be able to compete with the decibel levels of percussion instruments. For people that use that are exposed to these sounds and especially for musicians there re custom ear plugs that block out certain sounds and really help you hear even more clearly in these noisy concerts or places.
ReplyDeleteThey are a very worthy investment.
I have noticed recently that my ears have been bothering me and I think it is because I am constantly listening to music with my headphones in. In the morning, in the afternoon and in the evening! While I think it is a horrible habit I just can not seem to stop. Music plays a huge role in our lives and I think ear plugs would be a great investment. This way we can still listen to our music and we can protect our ears at the same time.
ReplyDeleteThis post is very educational as well as insightful! Hearing is so very important, and I am very guilty of taking this for granted. I recently was at a very loud concert and my ears rang for an entire day. Reminding students about safe music listening is great for any teacher, while most young people are sure to listen to music, and more often than not, at painfully loud volumes.
ReplyDelete