Ears are delicate, and although we
need to treat them with a lot of care, most of us subject our ears to
regular abuse. We listen to loud music and insert ear buds regularly
deep inside our ears. The ear is made up of some very sensitive
membranes and for the most part, once these are damaged, they cannot be
treated.
Hearing loss can affect you in more ways than one. You may not
appreciate your keen sense of hearing now, but when you need to keep
asking people to repeat what they have said, you will find yourself in
a less-than-favourable social situation.
Teach your children to take care of their ears from the outset.
Do you possess a pair of earmuffs or earplugs? If not, pick up a pair for each member of your family, and use them often.
Commute
If you travel by local transport, you may not realize it but
the noise outside is often deafening. Try and talk to someone when
you're sitting in an autorickshaw. If you have to shout to be heard,
the sound levels are too high. Wearearmuffs of earplugs when commuting, and make sure your children wear them as well to cut their exposure to loud noise.
Home
When using certain kitchen devices such as a blender that make a lot of
noise, or if there is work going on in your home which calls for
constant drilling and sawing, use ear protection.
Nightclubs
Noise levels in a nightclub are incredibly high, and regular exposure
to such loud levels will definitely tell on your ears. If you're going
to a restaurant or a bar, wearearplugs. Women can easily conceal these plugs by covering their ears with their hair.
Headphones
Is your child constantly listening
to his Walkman or ipod? If you can hear the music although it's plugged
into your child's ears, the volume is too high. In fact,listening to loud music through headphones is very, very bad for the ears and is certain to cause damage. In fact, listening
through headphones for a prolonged period is also a bad idea, although
the volume may not be very high. It is a good idea to remove the
headphones every now and again
and give your ears a rest. As far as possible, use large headphones
that cover the ears, instead of smaller ones that you need to insert
into your ears.
Ear buds
At least cigarette packs carry the warning that smoking is
hazardous to health. Unfortunately, ear bud manucturers don't follow
suit, although they should. Not every member of the public knows how
bad inserting an ear bud into your ears can be. So no matter how
tempting it is to dig that Q-tip into your ears, restrain. Constant
digging and prodding into the canal can injure the sensitive membranes.
In addition, every time you insert an ear bud into the ear, you push
the wax even deeper into the canal. Nature has made ears to be
self-cleaning organs. You don't need to dig out wax; your ears spew it
out themselves. All you really should do is clean your ears and around
with a damp cloth.
