My elder one loves listening to music and has her own set of headphones and earphones. Mostly you will see her with either one of them. We realised that headphones are actually better than earphones and that was one reason to get her good quality headphones.

On the other hand, I can’t use earphones for a long time as it makes me uncomfortable. Similarly, there are earbuds and earplugs which are not good for us and can lead to ear problems.

My husband had this habit of using earbuds and I always advise him to avoid using them too much. Earbuds can really lead to many ear problems. We may not realise it but over the period of time, these can cause permanent damage to our hearing.

hEARING

There is so much noise pollution around that anyone can suffer from hearing problems.  But believe it or not, by using earplugs and earbuds can have the same results on our hearing.

I still remember an incident where my friend’s son had to undergo a surgery because of earplugs. It is an old incident but I still remember it as it was something which led to a 40% hearing loss in him. When I came to know that earbuds can actually lead to eardrum damage, it was shocking.

The good thing is that there are good hospitals around us in Bangalore. Many of them have good ENT specialists and ENT surgeons to handle such situations.

We recently attended an event about hearing aids. I was relieved to know that my younger one’s ears were perfectly fine. We moms have this habit of worrying about everything related to our children. I wanted to get both my daughters ears checked as soon as I came to know about the facts related to hearing loss.

It is true that we do not get our ears checked as regularly as our eyes or body check-ups. The first thing I did was to look out for an ENT specialist in Bangalore to take an appointment for a regular ear check-up.

I scheduled a visit to the ENT specialist with my girls and got the ears checked for both of them as was worried about the elder one as she uses the earphones a lot.  I actually had a discussion with the doctor and it was good to know different facts about hearing loss, damage to ear drum not only in kids but in adults too.

Actually, I am writing this as wanted to share the info about the use of ear buds and ear plugs with others. My friend’s son’s incident was an eye-opener for me. I had a discussion with an ENT specialist after that and he shared some info which can be used to avoid any ear problems.

How ear buds, ear plugs, and earphones etc. cause ear damage?

Actually, they are so small that they can easily go inside the ear and are normally very near to the ear canal. When we are listening to music with high volume for longer periods of time, it can affect kids hearing.

Hearing

Kids hearing

Do you know to listen to music more than 85 decibels can cause hearing loss? This type of hearing loss is very common in kids these days and it is called Noise-Induced hearing loss.

An ear is made up of three parts, Outer ear, middle ear, and Inner ear. Any damage to the inner ear is very difficult to cure. So, earbuds which we commonly use to clean our ears can damage the eardrum too.

What can be done to avoid it?

  • Do not use earphones and plugs frequently. For music, headphones are a better option if you are a regular listener.
  • Also, Avoid using the earbuds if possible and I know it’s very difficult to resist the temptation but it can do more harm than good. By using the earbuds, you push the wax further inside which can lead to infections and other problems. It is always better to go to a specialist to get wax removed or any other ear problem.

I will also advise all the parents to surely take their kids for ear check-up regularly to an ENT specialist near you. Are your kids hearing fine and clear?

 

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