ear ringing and iPods
In one sense, aging well means minimizing or better—preventing—any irritations that can arise as you get older. One of the most common of these is ringing in the ears, or tinnitus. Usually not a result of any serious disease process, it’s typically due to excessive noise exposure over years, which damages the hair cells in the cochlea (inner ear).
Next week’s edition of the New Yorker magazine (available online now) has an article by Jerome Groopman, M.D. regarding his adventures in trying to stop his head noises. Much of the discussion revolves around soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq, and how gunfire and explosions have turned hearing loss and tinnitus into the number one cause of disability claims for these soldiers. Apparently, they are not using earplugs consistently, and in many cases (like body armor) the military hasn’t provided adequate protection.
But it’s not only soldiers who suffer life-long hearing loss and ringing. It also commonly arises from noise at work, and from listening to iPods at too high of a volume. As a general rule for iPod use (and for most other portable music players), if you put the volume at 80% of maximum, don’t listen for more than 90 minutes a day. At 100% volume, you will suffer inner ear damage after only 5 minutes of exposure! In general, try to limit your iPod to 70% or less of maximum volume.
If you regularly go to loud clubs or concerts, avoid future hearing loss and ringing by investing in a set of good earplugs with an adequate Noise Reduction Rating. Consult this article for much more data about safe earplug use, including a table of recommended loudness x listening time.
So your best defense to avoid the irritation of tinnitus is prevention. Minimize—beginning when you are young but it’s never too late to start—unnecessary exposure to loud noise. But if you already have ringing, get an appointment with an otolaryngologist (ear-nose-throat specialist) and get a hearing test to find out what’s the cause and what can be done to treat it. If you want more detail, check out this guide to ear ringing.
