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Ms. Ears Questions and AnswersQuestions about General Hearing, Impairment and Protection from real people and answered by real audiologists
QUESTION: How common is deafness? What causes it? Does it affect one gender more than another? ANSWER: Deafness and/or hearing impairment affects about 1 in every 10 people in North America. Deafness and hearing impairment has many causes including, noise, aging, head trauma, drugs, ear infections, genetics, tumors and other medical problems. More men seem to have hearing problems at this time because of working around noise, but this is changing as more women now work in noisy environments. Thank you for your question. Sincerely, QUESTION: Can loud rock concerts, loud disc-man music and high bass volume damage your hearing? Where can I find information to support this? ANSWER: The short answer is YES. Loud rock concerts and loud disc-mans generate enough volume that over time hearing damage can occur. There are a number of rock musicians that have developed hearing losses because of their long-term exposure to loud music. I recommend two books for further related information: "Musicians and the prevention of hearing loss," by Marshall Chasin, published by Singular Publishing Group and "Noise Handbook" also published by Singular Publishing Group. Both books are available through our online bookstore at: http://www.hearingcenteronline.comAlso check out the web site at:http://www.paulryan.freeserve.co.uk(also in our web-ring). This website tells the story of a rock drummer who lost most of his hearing from loud music. Thank you for your question, looking forward to hearing from you again. Sincerely, Ms. Ears. QUESTION: Does our vision have any effect on our hearing? Can you tell where sound is coming from when blindfolded? ANSWER: Vision and hearing are two separate senses, but understand that all of our sensory information goes to the brain to be analyzed and used. Our senses of smell, touch, taste, vision and hearing all provide information to the brain for us to use in interacting with our environments. To your specific question of "Does our vision have any effect on our hearing?" Only to the extent that when we watch someone's face, we can understand the words they are saying better. The reason for this is that when we can see the movement on a persons face, our brain matches this to the sounds we are receiving and with this extra information we can understand words better "Can you tell where sound is coming from when blindfolded?" Yes, try and see for yourself. The reason you can tell the direction of a sound is because you have two ears. The timing of the sound arriving at your ear and the volume of the sound in each ear, give the needed information to the brain to help you localize sound. Try this: get together with a friend, blindfold yourself and and see how well you can locate the direction of sounds in a room. If a person has a hearing loss in one ear, he will not be able to tell the direction that sounds are coming from as well. Thank you for your question. QUESTION: How loud does a sound have to be before it can damage your hearing? ANSWER: Noise levels above 85 decibels can cause hearing loss over time. Everyday noises like fire sirens, road construction and even movie theatres can lead to permanent hearing loss in less than 10 minutes. QUESTION: How loud is a whisper? ANSWER: A whisper is generally about 20 decibels. QUESTION: How loud is a rock concert? ANSWER: At most rock music concerts the sound can register over 100 to 130 decibels continuously. QUESTION: How loud is a gunshot? ANSWER: Gunshots are usually about 120 to 150 decibels. QUESTION: What are the easiest sounds to hear? ANSWER: The easiest sounds for the human ear to hear are, in order, "AH", "AW", "EH", and "OO". QUESTION: Are there any bones in our ears? ANSWER: Yes. There are bones in the part of our ears called the Middle Ear. In fact, the three smallest bones in the human body are inside the middle ear. They are the INCUS (sometimes called the ANVIL), the STAPES (sometimes called the STIRRUP) and the MALLEUS (sometimes called the HAMMER). The Stapes is the smallest of the three bones. Another interesting fact is that all three bones have already grown to full size by the time we're born. Here is a picture of what these bones look like:
Of course, we can't see the part of the ear where these bones are located and the outer ear, which is the part of the ear that we can see, does not have any bones. Instead, it has cartilage. QUESTION: Can medication affect hearing? ANSWER: A recent medical study has indicated that commonly prescribed pain killer abuse can cause rapid, profound hearing loss. Many prescribed antibiotics can also affect hearing and cause permanent damage over time. To continue to the next page of Ms. Ears questions on Hearing Aids click here. Select Another Category Here are some other great questions that real people have asked Ms. Ears.
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