 | Ed Clausen M.A
M.A. Audiologist, CCC-A is a licensed Audiologist under the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. He received his CCC-A in 1994 and serves as Company Audiologist for the 18 company offices of Midwest Hearing Aids, Inc. in Kansas. He holds memberships in the American Speech/Language and Hearing Association, the Kansas Speech/Language and Hearing Association, and the Kansas Hearing Aid Association. You may contact Ed at Midwest Hearing Aids corporate office in Wichita at 1 (800) 668-4055 or locally at (316) 264-2411. |
Audiology
2002-12-01 17:35:00
Protecting your hearing
QUESTION: How should I protect my hearing?
ANSWER: The most important thing you can do is to wear hearing protection when you are in the presence of loud noise. How loud is too loud? A good rule of thumb is that if the noise is loud enough that you have to significantly raise your voice to be heard, then you should be wearing hearing protection. The type of noise is not important; it could be a lawnmower, leaf blower, industrial noise, or music. Even the kind of music is not important: a symphony played too loud will damage your hearing as much as rock music played too loud.Hearing protection is available in different forms. The two most common types are the "earmuff" style and the foam earplug. These types of protection, when used properly, can attenuate the noise up to 20-24 decibels. The "earmuff" style completely covers the outer ears. The advantages of these are that they are easily put on and removed, and they are easy to keep clean. The other common kind are foam earplugs. These come in many shapes and sizes. They are compressed and then inserted into the ear canal, where they expand to a proper fit. These must be inserted correctly in order to achieve maximum noise attenuation, but they are inconspicuous and effective. They are also inexpensive. Some people will try to use cotton or tissue placed in the ear as an earplug; this is not effective as it provides very little noise attenuation.
