An Earful of Advice
Hearing is something we take for granted, unless we are loosing it or have had a hearing deficit since birth. There were times when measles (hard measles) caused deafness. However, since there is an immunization against measles, not many children get it anymore.
Your ears are an extension of your brain…the auditory portion of your brain that takes sound waves and converts the vibrations into audible sound and into speech that we hear in various frequencies. Most people’s speech falls within the 2000, 3000, 4000 Hz meaning frequencies or pitch. That is how fast the sound wave vibrates, making it either high – faster frequency, or low - slower frequency. Whether a sound is loud or soft is measured in decibels or intensity. A loud sound is measured in high decibels. For example a jet plane taking off is about 140 decibels. Most speech is about 60-65 decibels in intensity. The softer the sound the lower the decibel level.
Now lets look at how sound or noise (unwanted sound) can affect our hearing permanently. Our ears are fine tuned instruments. The inner ear (behind the eardrum or tympanic membrane) is composed of tiny bones and hair-like nerve endings that conduct sound into the auditory nerve that goes to the brain where the sound wave is interpreted as a voice, horn, or whatever.
The entire hearing mechanism is a remarkable structure. Of course why wouldn’t what God created be a remarkable and miraculous structure? When we listen to music at high decibel levels, the sound rushes into the inner ear passing through the tiny bones that are set into motion to transmit the sound wave to the nerve endings. These strong waves of sound at high decibels pass through like a tidal wave, pressing down all of the tiny hair-like structures that are the nerve endings. The nerves are temporarily damaged and may not return to the normal state right away. They will revive and stand up again for awhile.
However, after repeated bombarding of these delicate hair-like structures they loose the ability to return to a normal state. They become permanently damaged. Nerve tissue cannot regenerate when destroyed. Therefore, hearing is impaired and deafness can result. This is called noise-induced hearing loss.
When we are exposed to noise at 90 decibels for even short periods of time, we may have a temporary hearing loss which is a ringing in the ears or a temporary dullness in what we hear. Lets look at the decibel levels or intensity of sound, of ordinary things.
1. Vacuum cleaner – 85-90 decibels (dB)
There are periods of time that are “permissible” lengths of time for exposure to loud sounds (high decibels) and permanent damage will not result. However if this time is exceeded, temporary and then permanent loss can occur. Example: more than ˝ hour of sound at 110 dB (a Hip-Hop Rap Concert) can cause a temporary hearing loss or ringing in your ears. Repeated exposure will cause permanent damage or permanent hearing loss.
What we are doing to our hearing? That fine instrument that God gave us is being destroyed whenever we turn our car stereo or our home sound equipment up to the loudest and the highest settings! Any young infant or child in a car seat in the back seat of a car with the stereo or CD at 110 dB receives the full blast of sound and will be deaf in a twinkling. How will they begin school? Hearing impaired!
Take time to think about what we have in the natural, God given state. Your ears are some of the most delicate and intricate structures in the human body. Hearing is free – we only have to take care of what God has given us. If destroyed, we can never replace it. Modern medicine can help to provide some assistance ,but man cannot begin to parallel what God has made. Take an EARFUL of SOUND advice and. preserve your hearing.
2. Normal breathing - 10 decibels (dB)
3. Chain saw – 100 dB
4. Hip-Hop Rap Concert – 110 dB
5. Average traffic – 85 dB
6. Siren – 116 dB
7. Motorcycle 0 110 dB
8. Gun noise 0 140+ dB
9. Leaves rustling in the breeze – 20 dB
10. Faintest sound heard by the human ear – 0 dB