One-fifth of the world's population suffers from hearing loss. What should we do if our ears no longer work well at a young age?

We often use "sharp ears and sharp eyes" to describe a person with a clear mind and sharp eyesight. In addition to the eyes, the ears are also an important organ for us to perceive the beautiful world, and we need to take good care of them. Once the vision declines, we can clearly feel it, but the human ear can hear sounds between 20~20000Hz, and even if the sounds of some frequencies disappear, people will hardly notice it.

According to data released by the World Health Organization, one-fifth of the world's population, or more than 1.5 billion people, currently suffer from hearing loss, of which 1.1 billion people suffer from hearing loss due to bad ear habits.

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Come and take a look at the following unhealthy ear habits. How many of them do you have?

1. Unhealthy ear habits

High intensity long-term wearing headphones

The wearing time and volume of headphones are very important. Because the vibrating membrane of in-ear headphones is too close to the eardrum, the range of sound wave propagation is small and concentrated. When the volume is high, the stimulation to the auditory nerve of the eardrum will be relatively large. The hair cells in the inner ear are prone to ischemia and hypoxia under the stimulation of sound waves. If worn for too long, it will cause irreversible hearing damage.

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Use headphones when there is a lot of background noise

When traveling on the subway or bus, due to the loud background noise in the environment, in order to hear clearly, we will unconsciously turn up the volume of the headphones, which may cause damage to the eardrum.

Falling asleep with headphones on

Falling asleep with music or listening to books has become a sleeping habit for some modern people. However, when other organs enter the rest mode during sleep, wearing headphones to sleep is equivalent to the ears "working the night shift", which increases the workload of the ears and causes noise damage to the fragile ears.

Frequently go to KTV, nightclubs and other noisy places

Studies have shown that exposure to noise above 85 decibels (dB) may cause sudden deafness. The background noise in KTVs, nightclubs, bars, etc. can reach 110dB, which is enough to "take away" a person's hearing in an instant. Frequently going in and out of such noisy places is very harmful to the ears, so you can wear noise-proof earplugs when necessary.

2. Bad living habits

Be careful when blowing your nose

Try not to blow your nose, especially not blow it hard. If you have a runny nose, you can suck the mucus back into the pharynx and then spit it out through the mouth. This is helpful in preventing otitis media caused by blowing your nose hard.

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Frequent ear cleaning and incorrect ear cleaning methods

Although earwax gives people the impression that they do not pay attention to personal hygiene, it actually has the functions of blocking foreign matter from entering the ear, maintaining the temperature and humidity of the ear canal, and inhibiting bacteria. Regular ear cleaning can easily cause damage to the external auditory canal, and using sharp objects such as toothpicks and sharp nails to pick the ears may cause perforation of the eardrum and serious hearing damage. Using unsterilized ear picks to pick the ears may cause diseases such as inflammation of the external auditory canal, otitis media, and fungal infections.

Long phone calls

When chatting with friends or family, or when you need to answer the phone frequently for work, it will directly cause hearing loss. The frequency and duration of phone calls should be controlled, and you should relax your ears after no more than 30 minutes.

3. Tips on using your ears correctly

Master the "60-60-60" principle for using headphones

When using headphones, the volume should not exceed 60% of the maximum volume, the continuous use time of headphones should not exceed 60 minutes, and the noise level in the environment should not exceed 60dB.

Get more physical exercise

Actively participating in sports will enhance blood circulation in the body and improve the nutrition supply to the inner ear.

Headphone disinfection

Disinfect your earphones regularly and do not share them with others to prevent fungal infections in your ears caused by the earphones.

Audio equipment

Whether you are wearing headphones or listening to music externally, it is recommended to follow the "60-60-60" principle. The hearing safety index of audio equipment is from high to low: external speaker > headphones > in-ear, so it is safer to use external speakers.

4. Is your hearing impaired? Try self-testing?

Binaural test

Use both ears to feel the vibration ringtone of the mobile phone. If you find that the sounds heard by both ears are different, it may indicate that you have hearing impairment.

Listen to the ticking sound of the clock

Put a mechanical watch close to both ears and listen to the ticking sound of the watch. If one ear can hear it clearly but the other ear feels distant, it means that your hearing has decreased.

Judging by others’ words

When you often have trouble hearing or mishear certain conversations, or when people around you say that you speak too loudly or play your audio devices at too high a volume, it may mean that your hearing has been damaged.

In addition, you can also use the hearing test APP to conduct a simple self-test of your hearing. Of course, these self-test methods can only be used as a reference and cannot determine whether there is hearing loss. It is recommended that you go to a regular hospital regularly to determine your hearing level through audiological tests and other methods.

Knowing the above, I hope we can all pay attention to the health of our ears, take care of our ears, and listen to a better world!