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Barbara McLay gives Gary Fields, a chiller technician in
the MU Energy Management Department, a 20-minute audiometric
hearing test in a sound-treated booth. Photo courtesy
of Campus Facilities Communications
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MU
Expert Says
Headphones Hurt Hearing
Jennifer Faddis
Plugging into the latest music may mean you
are setting yourself up to tune it out in the future. The popularity
of personal listening devices, such as MP3 players, is not welcome
news to experts such as Barbara McLay, who oversees a hearing
conservation program at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
“Direct delivery of music into ears
can cause hearing loss over time,” said McLay, clinical
associate professor in MU's
School of Health Professions. “All of the noise we are
exposed to adds up over time and wears on our hearing.”
Noise-induced hearing loss is irreversible.
According to McLay, the closer people are to the source of a sound
the more damage it can do to their hearing. She says if other
people can hear the music when people are wearing headphones or
ear buds, then it is too loud. It's also important to give the
ears a break; listening to music the majority of the day, even
at moderate levels, can still have a significant damaging effect.
“Most people are aware that concert-level
music is a dangerously high level of sound. If you look closely,
you will actually see that most musicians are wearing protective
ear plugs to safeguard their hearing,” McLay said.
McLay said it is easy to tell if someone has
been exposed to levels of sound that are too loud. Following the
exposure to loud noise, hearing may be temporarily impaired. While
normal hearing will return, there has still been an irreversible
loss of cells. If people have to raise their voice to be heard,
the environment is too loud. Another sign of overexposure to loud
noise is experiencing ringing in the ears, known as tinnitus.
Barbara McLay oversees a program at MU that educates people about noise-induced hearing loss.
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“Noise-induced hearing loss sneaks up
on people. Someone can have hearing loss and not realize it because
it starts in the higher frequencies,” McLay said. “Typically,
the hearing loss is gradual and over time it begins to sound like
people are mumbling. There is no treatment; once you have this
type of hearing loss, it is permanent and all you can do is keep
it from getting worse.”
McLay oversees a hearing conservation program
on the MU campus. An educational program about noise-induced hearing
loss is presented to employees in the power plant, landscape services,
maintanence and construction. The workers also have annual hearing
tests.
“It has taken many years for this to
come to the forefront of thinking because nobody thinks it will
happen to them,” McLay said. “I have seen a shift
in attitude because of the greater awareness that our educational
program brings.”
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Last Update:
September 3, 2008
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