Take care of your hearing and don’t be a descendant of the deaf

March 3, 2022 is the 23rd "National Ear Care Day" and the 10th "World Hearing Day". This year's theme is "Caring for Hearing Health and Listening for a Wonderful Future". On this day that belongs to the ears, otolaryngologists have something to say.

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Most people are born with sensitive hearing, so we can understand the tenderness in "Furious 1984" and the happiness in "A Tribute to Love"; we can hear the apricot blossoms and drizzle in spring, and the cicadas in the breeze on summer nights. It can be said that good hearing is an important partner for us to enjoy every bit of life, but some habits in our daily lives are quietly "murdering" our hearing. The "World Hearing Report" released by the World Health Organization in 2021 pointed out that currently more than 1.5 billion people in the world suffer from varying degrees of hearing loss! You know, once you become a "deaf" descendant, it is highly likely that you cannot recover. The rest of your life will be like "One Piece" losing its bgm, and the world has become "A Quiet Place". Does this make you feel your chrysanthemum tighten, and want to start protecting our fragile ears immediately?

To protect our ears, we must first know how we hear sounds. Simply put, our ears are like a speaker with a built-in amplifier. The auricle and external auditory canal are responsible for collecting colorful sounds from the outside world, amplifying the sounds through the vibration of the eardrum and the ossicular chain, and transmitting them to the inner ear. After being processed by the cochlea, the sound signals become nerve impulses and are transmitted to the auditory center through the auditory nerve. The brain then "translates" these signals into sounds that we understand. This road to hearing is full of dangers, and any slight mistake may lead to "deafness".

Image source: Internet

So how should we protect our hearing?

Here I would like to remind young headphone enthusiasts in particular that you are already the "main force" of hearing loss.

Image source: Internet

In order to avoid "deafness before aging", you can wear headphones, but you must pay attention to the "60-60-60" principle, that is, the volume should not exceed 60% of the maximum volume, the listening time should not exceed 60 minutes each time, and the background sound should not exceed 60 decibels. Headphone addiction is a temporary pleasure, but hearing loss will regret it for a lifetime. Only by using your ears carefully can you have good hearing for a lifetime!

Image source: iQiyi video screenshot

Hearing Impairment Q&A

Q: What types of hearing loss are there?

A: Congenital sensorineural hearing loss, conductive hearing loss combined with microtia, conductive hearing loss caused by chronic otitis media, secretory otitis media, and middle ear cholesteatoma; sensorineural hearing loss caused by drugs, noise, Meniere's disease, and sudden hearing loss; conductive hearing loss and mixed hearing loss caused by otosclerosis; age-related hearing loss, etc.

Q: How can you determine whether you or your family members have hearing problems?

A: If your child: often does not respond to calls, likes to talk with his head tilted, watches TV loudly, and speaks unclearly; if your family members: have loud voices, often cannot hear the phone ringing, watch TV loudly, need to repeat themselves, have asymmetrical hearing in both ears, and become more irritable than before...

Q: What kind of people are at high risk of hearing impairment?

A: There are deaf people in the family; there are ear diseases such as otitis media, Meniere's disease, etc.; there is long-term exposure to noise; there is a history of using ototoxic drugs; there are chronic systemic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes.

Q: What should I do if I find that my hearing is decreasing?

A: Of course, you should see an ENT doctor right away! Early detection and early treatment can help your ears survive!

Being thin in old age and having sharp hearing and eyesight are the best gifts of old age. From today on, take care of our ears. Then, when a person looks back on the past, he will not regret wearing too many headphones, nor will he be ashamed of missing out on treatment. In this way, when he has children and grandchildren, he can say, I have dedicated my entire life and all my energy to the most precious cause in life - fighting for hearing protection!

About the Author:

Lv Yanlu, attending physician of the Otolaryngology Department of Shenzhen People's Hospital, doctor of medicine of Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, member of the Otolaryngology Committee of the Chinese Association of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, member of the Otolaryngology Branch of the Guangdong Medical Association, and member of the Science Popularization Expert Committee of the China Hearing Medicine Development Foundation. She is good at the diagnosis and treatment of various types of otitis media, hearing impairment, pediatric otolaryngology diseases, sinus diseases, and sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome.