According to M. Charles Liberman, Professor of Otolaryngology, Harvard Medical School and Director of the Eaton-Peabody Laboratories at Massachusetts Eye and Ear, the classic hearing tests that involve wearing headphones and listening for subtle beeps and tones in a silent environment is accurate at detecting some forms of loss, but don’t pick up on the kind of hearing issues that make it hard for a person to hear a friend’s voice in a crowded restaurant.
“It turns out that you can lose literally 80 to 90% of the nerve fibers in your ear, and it doesn’t change your threshold detection, In other words, you can severely impair your hearing and still do well on those classic hearing tests.
“Basically, the way researchers have assessed hearing loss for decades is flawed, even if your hearing seems to go back to normal after exposure to something loud—whether it’s a jackhammer, a gunshot or music—lasting damage may have been done”.
Loud noise can not only damage hair cells in your inner ear, but can also damage the ear’s nerve cells. With damage nerve cells, it is harder to pick out specific sounds in noisy places.
Because the brain receives lesser and poorer information from the ear due to the nerve damage, it struggles to interpret the information correctly.
Clinical Professor of Otolaryngology at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, Dr. Robert A. Dobie says;
“You can certainly hurt your hearing listening to loud music, whether through earbuds or something else, but earbuds and listening to music with earbuds are not a major cause of hearing loss”.
Prof. Liberman added that earbud volumes are subjective; some may have tough ears, while others have tender ears, so same volume limits may not apply to both variables.
“But when you pull out your buds, if you hear ringing in your ears, or the world around you sounds a little muffled, that’s a sure sign that you need to turn down the volume. Even if your hearing quickly returns to normal, you may be doing lasting damage to your ears”, he advises.
WHO acknowledged that approximately $750 billion is lost to unaddressed hearing loss, with 360 million people suffering from disabling hearing loss.
According to another Otorhinolaryngologist at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Professor Abayomi Somefun, over 8.5 million (14%) Nigerians suffer hearing disorders.
“Nigeria, with a population of over 170 million has about 250 Ear, Nose and Throat, ENT, surgeons, less than 50 audiologists, and less than 50 Speech Therapists. In the whole country, we have only 10 equipped audiological centres and they are all in private practice”.
