After-dance ringing-ears

Federico Miyara

 

It's not the first time it happens to you. Indeed, it's ever more frequent. After wonderful entertainment at the disco, you get home and, in the silence of the small hours, you can hear clearly a strange sound. At first you thought it was some noise outside, such as a machine, or an electronic gadget, but after a while you found out that the sound were, indeed, inside your own ears. Sometimes you can hear it in one ear, sometimes in both. Fortunately, after some hearing rest the sound disappears... until next time you go out to dance.

What you feel is called ringing-ears, because of the ringing nature of the sound. The scientific name of this sound is tinnitus. It is the result of an injury of the delicate cells inside your inner ear. These cells are called hair cells because they have hair-like terminations. They work as tiny microphones, causing small electric "spikes" whenever they are shaken by sound waves. Those spikes go towards the brain and cause the sensation of sound.

When the incoming sound is very loud, the shake is quite violent and the hair cells are injured. The result is that the cells lose their sensitivity to sound and they keep sending electric spikes to the brain, causing the sensation of sound even when the real sound turns off.

When the injury is slight enough, the cells can recoveržbut it takes time. If the cells are abused again and again before complete recover, they won't be able to reach normality. It's the beginning of hypocusis, or hearing loss. At first, this loss is almost unnoticeable, since most sounds can still be heard. However, there will be some sounds that can't be heard very well. Unfortunately, hypocusis keeps growing until it is deep enough that one can notice it. Then it's too late.

Indeed, the first ones to notice this are the other people. "Are you deaf?" they say when one starts to ask them to repeat their words too often. Finally, oneself starts to wonder whether it is true or not...

Sometimes hypocusis is discovered during the health examinations needed when you take a new job or when you enter college. Believe it or not, too many cases of hypocusis are discovered during these health examinations.

Anyway, it is very hard to crash against the truth, since hypocusis is permanent. This means that what is lost can't be recovered. Nevermore one will be able to listen to the birds in the distance, or the quiet sound of gentle breeze. Sometimes someone will say it is raining because he or she can hear the sound of the drops on top of the roof or outside in the courtyard. One will need to look through the window to ascertain it. However, the worse part will be the difficulties to have a nice chat. One will feel to be socially isolated, since people will prefer to talk with normally-hearing people rather than with someone who often needs to have the same words repeated several times to understand. Job opportunities are also reduced, since many employers won't accept hard-of-hearing people.

"What can be done to prevent this?" you may be asking by now. No young person wants to stop going out to enjoy himself or herself, but it's also true that no one who knows this will gladly accept the hearing-loss "side-effect". An immediate solution is to wear hearing protectors such as those used at the industry or by professional or amateur divers. They are small enough to go unnoticed under the hair, especially considering the dim lighting of discotheques.

A better solution is to spread the consciousness that it is unnecessary to have a deafening sound around to enjoy oneself. Something is wrong if to have a safe entertainment at a discotheque one has to wear hearing protection.

You have noticed how difficult it is to chat in a disco, haven't you? The noise is so deafening that you need to shout at your mate's ears to make you understood. Apart from increasing the risk of hypocusis (since shout and ambient noise are combined together), you must stress your voice. It's extenuating, and that's why most people avoid chatting inside a disco. Whenever two people really want to talk, they go outside. However, because of blunted hearing, they keep shouting. This is a problem for the neighbours who are trying to sleep.

Haven't you asked yourself why, if most normal people don't enjoy such a frantically loud sound (though for social reasons they prefer to pretend they do), the volume is so high at the discotheques?

There are two reasons. First, very loud sound causes the ear to distort the sound. This relieves the sound system of the need to be a high-quality and costly one. In one word, as your own ear distorts, the sound system's distortion can be "forgiven". Second, as the sound gets louder, people feel like getting in motion. They dance more and more, so they spend much energy and perspire copiously. After a while they need to eat and drink, and the owner of the disco profits from that.

It's that simple.

As usually, markets issue. The same as cigarettes, noise is profitable.

What can be done, then?

First, "spread the Word" among young people, that is, try to make youngsters conscious of these facts. Second, join together with several friends to ask the disc jockey to turn the volume down. A single "nerd" won't get anything, but if all the night people keep asking the same, the guy will catch the "message". Third, snail-mail or e-mail the disco's owner letting him or her know that it isn't pleasant for you to go to his o her discotheque because the noise is harming you, so you'll change for another one that is not so loud and has better-quality audio.

 

 

Glossary
 

ringing-ears:

a disease causing a ringing-like sound to be heard inside your ears

hair cells:

tiny cells in the inner ear that transform sound into weak electric pulses

hypocusis:

a reduction of auditory acuity

hearing protector:

a small plug to be introduced slightly into your ears to protect them from loud sounds

deafness:

a deep hypocusis

tinnitus:

clinical name of the ringing of the ears

 


 

E-mail: fmiyara@fceia.unr.edu.ar
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