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Showing posts with label hearing loss. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hearing loss. Show all posts
Wednesday, 10 June 2009
Thursday, 23 April 2009
How detrimental are iPods to the hearing you still have?
”PEOPLE don’t look into the sun to see if it damages their eyes,” says Dr. Robert Sweetow, director of audiology at UCSF. “It continually amazes me that people don’t realize if you blast your ears, you’re going to hurt your ears.”
The innovative, stylish and incredibly popular Apple product, the iPod, which has taken the world by storm with its strikingly subtle features allowing large amounts of data to be stored and listened to at any given time. The iPod was in the news this month, due to the unlikeliest source, as the device can now upload videos and still pictures, it has been claimed to have won the Carling Cup at Wembley thanks to Ben Foster’s heroics in the penalty shootout. Foster was watching footage of Tottenham Hotspur’s penalty-takers, which had been prepared by Eric Steele, Manchester United’s goalkeeping coach. Alex Ferguson saw the video and rearranged his squad accordingly, leading them to victory.
More wonderful free publicity for Apple I thought, then I reminisced. Four years ago in the few remaining weeks of the G.C.S.E History class, a spiky-haired classmate of mine smugly brought in an iPod, playing it loudly and I said ‘In a few years time, you’ll be like me’ which he laughed off promptly claiming his hearing was fine. Of course it was fine, he had only just got it and the impact it makes is more long term... then it hit me as to the reason why my tinnitus has worsened over the past year or so. It was barely comfortable as it was since I contracted meningitis at the age of three, but the tinnitus was largely ignored, progressively worsening by the year.
In order to block it out, I listen to whale noises before I sleep to combat the high pitch frequencies I hear, which ironically must have been caused by listening to my iPod at high volume, which of course I shouldn’t do, but then how else would I be able to hear it?
Perhaps I should explain; I have a total of five per cent hearing in the left ear and seven per cent in the right, diminishing by the day leading to the audiologist to state in 20 years time I’d hear nothing. Now with the mp3 abuse I predict he is approximately six years off, taking into account the results of the levels test in 2008. Never mind this, what concerns me is the impact iPods will have on the Hearing in 10 to 20 years time, and also the Deaf.
We’ve heard all about the impact it can have on the Hearing teenagers, and how leading audiologists claim a rapid decline in hearing has increased as people approach middle age as opposed to previous years. One such analytical audiologist at Northwestern University in the U.S found ‘ Ear buds are placed directly in the ear and can boost the sound signal by as much as six to nine decibels. It’s enough to cause hearing loss after only about an hour and 15 minutes,’ which, as shocking as it may sound, is not surprising when you consider the widespread use of ear-buds.
Clearly it shows the worrying impact of the magnitude of decibels enforced upon the ears, citing its 110db volume similar to that of nightclubs and the sweat laden DJs. Also it is more detrimental then factory noise: this is concerning as many factory workers at my father’s steel constructing firm have retired due to terrible, sudden hearing loss. So if these men cannot cope, how on earth can the Deaf, who already have extremely low levels of hearing? Meningitis caused my ear-drum to inexplicably collapse, but could placing an ear-bud so far into the ear cause similar damage?
What is needed is a scientific test to collaborate all these little pebbles of knowledge to form a warning to the teenagers, London Tube users and runners on the streets that their favourite device is in fact soon to be their Achilles Heel. Large organizations such as Phonak need to play Devil’s Advocate.
There are many issues to be resolved in the world at the current time however such as the economic crisis and job losses, but with the continuation of ignorance, many people in 10 years time, will be like me: unable to sleep until 5am due to the rattling, strange high-pitch noises causing sleep deprivation. Or when talking in the street, desperate to hear the friend telling you about the night before and as you try to lip read, you find yourself falling into a trap of isolation.
It’s not pity nor sympathy that is required, but awareness.
By Benjamin Stonehouse
The innovative, stylish and incredibly popular Apple product, the iPod, which has taken the world by storm with its strikingly subtle features allowing large amounts of data to be stored and listened to at any given time. The iPod was in the news this month, due to the unlikeliest source, as the device can now upload videos and still pictures, it has been claimed to have won the Carling Cup at Wembley thanks to Ben Foster’s heroics in the penalty shootout. Foster was watching footage of Tottenham Hotspur’s penalty-takers, which had been prepared by Eric Steele, Manchester United’s goalkeeping coach. Alex Ferguson saw the video and rearranged his squad accordingly, leading them to victory.
More wonderful free publicity for Apple I thought, then I reminisced. Four years ago in the few remaining weeks of the G.C.S.E History class, a spiky-haired classmate of mine smugly brought in an iPod, playing it loudly and I said ‘In a few years time, you’ll be like me’ which he laughed off promptly claiming his hearing was fine. Of course it was fine, he had only just got it and the impact it makes is more long term... then it hit me as to the reason why my tinnitus has worsened over the past year or so. It was barely comfortable as it was since I contracted meningitis at the age of three, but the tinnitus was largely ignored, progressively worsening by the year.
In order to block it out, I listen to whale noises before I sleep to combat the high pitch frequencies I hear, which ironically must have been caused by listening to my iPod at high volume, which of course I shouldn’t do, but then how else would I be able to hear it?
Perhaps I should explain; I have a total of five per cent hearing in the left ear and seven per cent in the right, diminishing by the day leading to the audiologist to state in 20 years time I’d hear nothing. Now with the mp3 abuse I predict he is approximately six years off, taking into account the results of the levels test in 2008. Never mind this, what concerns me is the impact iPods will have on the Hearing in 10 to 20 years time, and also the Deaf.
We’ve heard all about the impact it can have on the Hearing teenagers, and how leading audiologists claim a rapid decline in hearing has increased as people approach middle age as opposed to previous years. One such analytical audiologist at Northwestern University in the U.S found ‘ Ear buds are placed directly in the ear and can boost the sound signal by as much as six to nine decibels. It’s enough to cause hearing loss after only about an hour and 15 minutes,’ which, as shocking as it may sound, is not surprising when you consider the widespread use of ear-buds.
Clearly it shows the worrying impact of the magnitude of decibels enforced upon the ears, citing its 110db volume similar to that of nightclubs and the sweat laden DJs. Also it is more detrimental then factory noise: this is concerning as many factory workers at my father’s steel constructing firm have retired due to terrible, sudden hearing loss. So if these men cannot cope, how on earth can the Deaf, who already have extremely low levels of hearing? Meningitis caused my ear-drum to inexplicably collapse, but could placing an ear-bud so far into the ear cause similar damage?
What is needed is a scientific test to collaborate all these little pebbles of knowledge to form a warning to the teenagers, London Tube users and runners on the streets that their favourite device is in fact soon to be their Achilles Heel. Large organizations such as Phonak need to play Devil’s Advocate.
There are many issues to be resolved in the world at the current time however such as the economic crisis and job losses, but with the continuation of ignorance, many people in 10 years time, will be like me: unable to sleep until 5am due to the rattling, strange high-pitch noises causing sleep deprivation. Or when talking in the street, desperate to hear the friend telling you about the night before and as you try to lip read, you find yourself falling into a trap of isolation.
It’s not pity nor sympathy that is required, but awareness.
By Benjamin Stonehouse
Monday, 5 January 2009
Just a thought...
Recently I have been thinking about illusions, and how important they are to disabled people. For example, I am assured that those who are skilled in lip-reading and signing can actually 'hear' the sound of speech in their minds, by means of 'educated illusion'.
My lip-reading is very poor, so I have to turn on the subtitles when I watch TV. I also turn off the sound, because I find the ever-present 'background' jingles very distracting. How I hate them. Clearly the perpetrators assume that these silly scraps of music can be shuffled backwards and forwards in the ear of the listener, like mental playing cards in a pack.
Certainly an old-fashioned gramophone record is solid enough, and its single groove is spirally shaped. Yet the plain truth is that the music itself only has two dimensions. And you only have to watch the unilateral wobble of the gramophone needle, to understand this.
In the same way, it can be shown that not only live sound, but also the action of the human ear-drum, are two-dimensional. In other words, both actions are composed of nothing more than a frequency of response and a varying degree of energy.
Yet we talk about stereophonic speakers and omni-directional microphones, as if sound was something round and solid, like an invisible dome. Why is this?
I would suggest four possible answers.
First, thanks to the gift of perceptual projection, we have the illusion that the sensations that our ears are experiencing are actually originating somewhere in the distance. We talk about 'the sound of distant gun-fire,' or of 'hearing voices in the garden next door'.
But of course this magical effect does not apply to sound alone. It applies to our other four senses as well. For example, it applies whenever a blind man is feeling his way with a stick. In his mind, it is the tip of the stick which senses the various objects. Whereas in fact it is the sensors in his arm and finger muscles that are responsible.
The second answer is that, with the exception of a few clever animals and machines, most originators of sound transmit the noise all around them. And it is often possible, even for people who have hearing disabilities, to identify each of these sources by turning the head, and cupping the hands around the ears, etc. It's simply a matter of directing the ear to catch the sound waves at the best angle. In other words, as near to ninety degrees as possible.
The third answer, as all lip-readers and ventriloquists know, is psychological. For example, when you see the lips and eyes of a doll moving, the assumption that she is talking to you, is irresistible.
Finally, in real life, different sounds are very often originating in several places at once. Hence the TV/Radio broadcaster's compulsion to load a number of recorded sounds onto a single track, by post-productive editing. Thus, although the end result comes from a single loud-speaker, the idea is to make us feel that we are physically surrounded by a full orchestra of noise-makers.
And it's this crafty little trick that all those who suffer from intrusive TV & Radio jingle should bear in mind, when complaining!
By Richard Tomalin, 'Pipedown' TV/ Radio music sub-campaign.
My lip-reading is very poor, so I have to turn on the subtitles when I watch TV. I also turn off the sound, because I find the ever-present 'background' jingles very distracting. How I hate them. Clearly the perpetrators assume that these silly scraps of music can be shuffled backwards and forwards in the ear of the listener, like mental playing cards in a pack.
Certainly an old-fashioned gramophone record is solid enough, and its single groove is spirally shaped. Yet the plain truth is that the music itself only has two dimensions. And you only have to watch the unilateral wobble of the gramophone needle, to understand this.
In the same way, it can be shown that not only live sound, but also the action of the human ear-drum, are two-dimensional. In other words, both actions are composed of nothing more than a frequency of response and a varying degree of energy.
Yet we talk about stereophonic speakers and omni-directional microphones, as if sound was something round and solid, like an invisible dome. Why is this?
I would suggest four possible answers.
First, thanks to the gift of perceptual projection, we have the illusion that the sensations that our ears are experiencing are actually originating somewhere in the distance. We talk about 'the sound of distant gun-fire,' or of 'hearing voices in the garden next door'.
But of course this magical effect does not apply to sound alone. It applies to our other four senses as well. For example, it applies whenever a blind man is feeling his way with a stick. In his mind, it is the tip of the stick which senses the various objects. Whereas in fact it is the sensors in his arm and finger muscles that are responsible.
The second answer is that, with the exception of a few clever animals and machines, most originators of sound transmit the noise all around them. And it is often possible, even for people who have hearing disabilities, to identify each of these sources by turning the head, and cupping the hands around the ears, etc. It's simply a matter of directing the ear to catch the sound waves at the best angle. In other words, as near to ninety degrees as possible.
The third answer, as all lip-readers and ventriloquists know, is psychological. For example, when you see the lips and eyes of a doll moving, the assumption that she is talking to you, is irresistible.
Finally, in real life, different sounds are very often originating in several places at once. Hence the TV/Radio broadcaster's compulsion to load a number of recorded sounds onto a single track, by post-productive editing. Thus, although the end result comes from a single loud-speaker, the idea is to make us feel that we are physically surrounded by a full orchestra of noise-makers.
And it's this crafty little trick that all those who suffer from intrusive TV & Radio jingle should bear in mind, when complaining!
By Richard Tomalin, 'Pipedown' TV/ Radio music sub-campaign.
Thursday, 18 December 2008
Christmas food for thought: Advice for families with a relative with hearing loss
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As Christmas approaches we are all preparing for the festivities with Family, Friends and loved ones, but have you considered this...?
It is the Family Christmas Party, all the relatives from far and wide are invited and make their way over to your house on the chosen day at the chosen time. All ages young and old arrive for the festive fun, as the night goes on more relatives arrive settling in for a good party night. As they consume the mince-pies and cocktail sausages you prepared earlier the alcohol also starts to flow, and then the volume of the guests starts to rise…… and rise…… and rise.
Where is the problem here you ask?
There is no problem if you do not suffer from a hearing loss and wear a hearing instrument.
You know the elderly relative you have who normal has just a small drink of port or sherry or just a cup of tea and they are quite chatty when they first arrive and the house is almost empty with a golden silence running through it. Then as the house becomes busier and busier and the guests become louder and louder the elderly relative has disappeared into another room or is sitting in the corner looking miserable and fed up. They have over the years been tagged as the grumpy old so and so who nobody really bothers with much over the course of the year except at Christmas because they have feel like they too as part of the whole family gathering etc.
But have you considered why they go from social to “anti-social” in the matter of a very short space of time?
Let me give you an insight into a common problem which is simply taken for granted. The next time you are in a crowded bar or restaurant just take 10 seconds to stop and listen, not hear, but listen to the background noise, others around you near and far, the sounds of crockery, cutlery or glassware, furniture being moved around and music being played by way of creating an ambient environment. Now imagine all these sounds being amplified and played back a few inches from your ears, can you hear clearly?
This is what your hearing aid-wearing relative is living with at your Family Christmas Party. When the other guests fill the room with festivities, it sounds like a full orchestra is playing at maximum volume a few inches away from them. How do you expect them to hear you clearly?
Some simple steps to help them enjoy the Festive season can easily be achieved without taking anything away from the rest of your guests:
· When talking to a hearing aid wearer always ensure the background noise is behind them and not you. This way your voice will be heard and not mixed into the other room sounds coming over your shoulder.
· Try to find a “quiet” corner where they can sit or stand in the same room as the others, turn hi-fi speakers away from this area and remove more than one or two chairs so it does not become crowded
· Find ways of getting “louder” relatives to be slightly quieter, a simple method is talk quieter to them and they actually become quieter on their own.
· If you are having a sit down meal have the hearing aid-wearing relative at the top of the table or close to the end so the volume of others is only on one side and less people are near them so they can generally hear clearer.
· Offer them the option of helping you in the kitchen so they are in a quieter environment and can clearly hear the conversation
· Get other guests to move the party between areas so that only half of the volume of the party is in the area you have selected for them to find a comfortable spot.
· Have them participate in any party games rather than just allowing them to fade off into a quieter corner.
By considering these few steps you can provide a great Family Christmas Party for all your guests.
Tuesday, 16 December 2008
Cover girl Kellie Moody at BAA (British Academy of Audiologists) Conference November 2008
Britain's Missing Top Model star Kellie Moody appeared at the recent BAA (British Academy of Audiologists) Conference in Liverpool in November, to showcase the new range of Siemens hearing instruments. Click on the video below to watch footage of her catwalk show and some behind-the-scenes commentary.
Watch Kellie Moody models Siemen's Hearing Instruments in Game Videos | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
Kellie also appeared on the front cover of the November issue of Hearing Times (available now)
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