"Health Information" Wearing headphones for a long time may cause noise-induced deafness

The day before yesterday was the 15th "Ear Care Day" in the country. The theme of this year's event is "Ear Care, Ear Protection, Healthy Hearing - Prevention Starts with Primary Ear Care". The reporter learned from many hospitals that in recent years, the number of patients suffering from sudden deafness and noise-induced deafness has been increasing, and the age of the patients has decreased, with most of them being teenagers. It is understood that listening to music with headphones for a long time, high work pressure, and bad living habits are the main culprits that cause hearing impairment in young people.
Sudden deafness in young people in their early 20s
The day before yesterday, the national "Ear Care Day" charity event was held organized by Shenzhen Sixth People's Hospital (Nanshan Hospital), Hong Kong Hearing Heart Foundation, and Longgang Central Hospital Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery Hospital. Experts from Shenzhen and Hong Kong jointly promoted ear care and ear protection, and called for primary ear health care to be the basic and effective way to prevent hearing disability.
Luo Xudong, president of Nanshan Hospital, said that hearing impairment is preventable. For some patients with hearing impairment, otitis media, and deafness, 50% of them can basically be cured through medical treatment, while some patients who cannot be cured can also be rehabilitated through surgical means, using hearing aids, cochlear implants, and other methods to restore part of their auditory function.
Noise is already a well-known cause of deafness. In cities, noise sources include industrial noise, urban road noise, game halls, discos, etc. Sudden deafness is also one of the diseases with an increasing incidence rate.
At the free clinic, the reporter learned that although sudden deafness is very common among the elderly because the elderly have many basic diseases and blood vessels in the ears are prone to blood clots, in recent years there has been an obvious trend of younger people, and even young people in their early 20s have become patients with sudden deafness. It is understood that listening to music with headphones for a long time, high work pressure, and bad living habits are the main culprits that cause hearing impairment in young people.
Gao Chunsheng, director of the Otolaryngology Department of Nanshan Hospital, said that many young people have experienced tinnitus, but tinnitus is a precursor to sudden deafness. He said that many "office workers" are under great pressure and are overloaded with work for a long time. Excessive mental stress and staying up late may cause tinnitus, ear fullness, and even sudden deafness.
Listening to loud headphones for too long will affect the auditory nerve
And frequent use of MP3 is also one of the reasons that cannot be ignored. "Pulse noise in continuous noise, such as the sound from MP3, is more damaging to hearing than steady-state noise. When the volume heard by the human ear exceeds 85 decibels, it can cause auditory fatigue for a long time; when the volume is as high as 110 decibels or more, it is enough to cause the death of hair cells in the human inner ear. Once the hair cells on the cochlea that sense sound are damaged, it will cause a decline in speech recognition, and such damage is irreversible. " Dr. Tan from Shenzhen Second People's Hospital said that the volume output of headphones is generally between 84 decibels and 120 decibels. Excessive sound and excessive listening time each time will affect the auditory nerve.
Dr. Tan reminds people that although a small number of mild sudden deafness can heal on their own, the vast majority of patients need to rely on drug treatment to restore hearing. Therefore, once symptoms such as hearing loss, tinnitus, and ear tightness occur, seek medical attention as soon as possible. At present, many students wear headphones during class breaks, on the way to and from school, and even when doing homework. Wearing headphones for a long time can easily cause noise-induced deafness even if the sound is not loud. Therefore, in response to this situation, Dr. Tan reminds parents that it is best to impose a certain time limit on children wearing headphones for a long time to listen to content unrelated to learning. This is also crucial to the healthy development of children's ears.
Gao Chunsheng also suggested that to protect ear health, the first step is to avoid over-stimulation of the ears in terms of hearing. It is recommended that citizens pay more attention to rest and listen to the sound of natural waves and gentle music to help relax the ears.