World Hearing Day | Bu Xingkuan: Working towards healthy ears and hearing for everyone

Hearing and language are important means for humans to communicate with each other and understand the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) released its first "World Hearing Report" on March 3, 2021, stating that one in five people in the world currently have hearing loss, and hearing loss affects more than 1.5 billion people worldwide. Among them, 430 million people with severe hearing loss also have moderate or higher hearing loss in the ear with better hearing. By 2050, it is expected that one in four people will have hearing problems, nearly 2.5 billion people will suffer from some degree of hearing loss, and at least 700 million of them will need rehabilitation services.

WHO recommends that ear and hearing care services should be provided to all people. The additional investment in ear and hearing care services per person per year is less than US$ 1.4. However, hearing loss is costly, causing a cumulative loss of US$ 980 billion to governments each year.

In order to ensure that everyone enjoys hearing health, the Chinese Medical Information Herald interviewed Bu Xingkuan, a professor of otolaryngology at Jiangsu Provincial People's Hospital (the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University), a member of the WHO Global Deafness Prevention Expert Group, and vice president of Hearing International, and asked him to give advice on healthy hearing care!

These behaviors/environment are hurting your ears

Pick your ears

Some people have the habit of cleaning their ears, and even enjoy the process. Little do they know that the "earwax" that is picked out has a medical name, cerumen. Earwax is a normal product of the ear, which falls with daily talking and chewing, and does not need to be removed specifically under normal circumstances. If you are not careful when cleaning your ears, it may cause damage to the ear canal and eardrum, complications of infection, and the risk of hearing loss.

Professor Bu reminds that if the blockage is caused by ear inflammation, you should seek medical attention immediately.

Remember not to put oil, cotton swabs, small sticks, pins, etc. into the ears.

Noise environment

The World Health Organization estimated in 2021 that 1.1 billion young people aged 12 to 35 are at risk of hearing loss due to unsafe listening to loud music. If no action is taken, it is predicted that one-quarter of the world's population will suffer from hearing loss by 2050.

Professor Bu reminds us to stay away from noisy environments and wear headphones scientifically.

Blowing your nose incorrectly

Are you still blowing your nose through both nostrils at the same time? This wrong way of blowing your nose can cause damage to your hearing.

Professor Bu introduced the scientific method of blowing your nose. You should blow your left and right nostrils one by one, and never pinch both nostrils closed at the same time to blow your nose, because there is a tube connecting the back of the nasal cavity and the middle ear cavity. If you blow your nose improperly, the nasal secretions can be driven into the middle ear cavity, causing otitis media.

Water in the ears

In daily life, improper hair washing, bathing methods or swimming in unclean waters can cause damage to the ears.

Professor Bu reminded that when washing hair or taking a bath, you can plug your ears with cotton swabs to prevent water from flowing into your ears. When swimming, you must choose clean waters and wear earplugs.

Incorrect way of wearing headphones

Listening to music and books with headphones has become a daily routine for many people. However, sharing headphones with others and using too loud a volume can cause damage to the ears.

In response to these problems, Professor Bu recommended the "666 principle". The first "6" is that when wearing headphones, try to be in a comfortable environment with the volume not exceeding 60 decibels; the second "6" is that when watching TV or listening to headphones, the volume should be controlled at 60% of the maximum volume; the third "6" is that each time you wear headphones to listen to music, etc., do not exceed 60 minutes.

Professor Bu also said that some young people choose to wear headphones when commuting on the subway or bus, and the environment in the car is as high as 80 decibels. In this case, they can choose noise-canceling headphones and headsets to artificially reduce the interference of the external environment on hearing.

Professor Bu especially reminded everyone to avoid cross infection caused by sharing headphones with others.

How to scientifically protect your ears and make sure everyone has access to ear and hearing care

Achieving proactive health

Hearing loss is highly prevalent and harmful. The WHO points out that at least half of hearing loss is preventable. For those who are already ill, lifelong hearing can be achieved through cost-effective public health measures such as early identification, care and rehabilitation. Since hearing impairment is an invisible disability, it is not easy for people to detect it from the appearance alone. And because hearing-impaired people have serious communication barriers, most of them avoid communicating with others, which makes society lack understanding of them, resulting in low awareness.

Professor Bu called for greater awareness of ear and hearing health among all sectors of society.

Scientific ear care

In addition to mastering scientific ways to love and protect our ears, we should also strengthen the prevention and treatment of ear-related diseases. The occurrence of diseases such as hearing loss may not only be a problem with the ears, but may also be a signal of systemic disease.

The main manifestations of ear diseases include tinnitus, deafness, ear pain, etc.

Tinnitus: Suffering from diseases such as otitis media and cerumen embolism may cause tinnitus. Long-term tinnitus can cause patients to experience insomnia, dizziness, irritability, and irritability.

Deafness: Diabetes may cause sensorineural hearing loss, leading to headaches, dizziness and other discomfort symptoms; if you suffer from hypertension, hyperlipidemia and other diseases, it may cause insufficient blood supply to the inner ear and degeneration of inner ear hair cells, causing sensorineural hearing loss; in addition, lack of vitamin D and hypothyroidism may also cause deafness.

Earache: Periodontal disease, acute tonsillitis and other diseases affecting the ear-adjacent organs, or diseases such as joint diseases, can cause nerve reflex pain and lead to secondary earache.

Professor Bu reminds that ear problems should not be underestimated. Regular check-ups are necessary, and medical attention should be sought promptly if any problems occur.

In addition, once hearing loss is diagnosed, early intervention is the key to success. Timely selection of hearing aids or cochlear implants can effectively improve hearing, return to the world of sound, improve verbal communication skills, and improve quality of life.