Hearing Health (all)

Sounds are everywhere! Imagine, strolling through a lively garden and you hear birds chirping, children’s laughter and people chatting. Everyone knows that we hear with our ears. But do you know how sound travels from our surroundings and into our ear? 

 

It all begins with our outer ear. Our outer ear (Pinna) collects sound waves (sounds) and funnels them to the ear canal. The ear canal is a pathway that leads to the middle ear. The ear canal turns sound waves turn into vibrations and the vibrations hit the eardrum, making it move. These vibrations from the middle ear pass through the cochlea. The cochlea is a snail-shaped bone that changes the vibrations from the middle ear into nerve signals. These signals then travel to the brain along the cochlear nerve, otherwise known as auditory nerve. The brain interprets these signals into sounds you recognize.

 

Hearing loss, also known as hearing impairment, is a partial or total inability to hear. It can happen suddenly if you’re exposed to a loud sound or bang, or slowly over a long period of time, which is often the case with an age-related hearing loss.

According to World Health Organisation (WHO, 2018), over 5% of the world’s population – 360 million people – has disabling hearing loss, and 32 million of these are children. On average, people with hearing loss wait as long as 10 years before seeking help. This means 10 years of reduced quality of life and miscommunication.

Generally, continuous exposure to noises over 85 decibels will put your hearing in danger. So, is Singapore ‘noisy’? According to a study by NUS (2017), the average sound level outdoors is 69.4 decibels throughout the day, which is close to a continuous vacuum cleaner’s humming. For reference, Singapore’s average sound level crossed NEA’s recommended limit of 67 decibels per hour. Singapore’s average sound level is also dangerously close to WHO’s recommendation of 70 decibels a day.

To many, as long as they can hear sounds or noises, they assume that their hearing is fine. So how do you know if you are losing your hearing? Ever wonder if you have hearing loss?

These are some hearing loss symptoms:

• You have a family history of hearing loss
• You have been repeatedly exposed to high noise levels
• You are inclined to believe that "everybody mumbles" or "people don't speak as clearly as they used to"
• You feel nervous, tension, irritability or fatigue from the effort required to hear
• You are straining to understand conversations and have to concentrate on watching people's faces when listening
• You often misunderstand or need to ask people to repeat
• You have been increasing the television or radio volume to a point that others complain of the loudness
• You have diabetes; heart, thyroid, or circulation problems; reoccurring ear infections; constant ringing in the ears or dizziness
• You no longer hear high-pitched tones clearly, like the voices of women or children
• You can’t pick out a single voice if there is a lot of conversation in the background

If you think you have hearing loss, do not procrastinate and quickly get your hearing tested! Untreated hearing loss may lead to health complications, such as dementia. It might also negatively affect your quality of life.