ARE YOU TALKING TO ME?

Before the invention of much of the modern machinery we find to be commonplace in today’s world, men and women lived relatively quiet lives, but face it, today we live in a loud world. Engines rev, horns blare, mega-amplified car radios blast us at practically every stop light. And we haven’t even mentioned jets, helicopters, construction equipment, the dog next door or grandpa listening to the television.

“When America became an industrialized society, we began to see an increase in hearing loss all throughout our society,” says Russell Fankhouser, Au.D., CCC-A, of the Appalachian Hearing and Speech Center in Johnson City, Tennessee. “The loud sounds that accompany industry and manufacturing have led to much of the hearing loss we see today.”

One in 10 Americans has trouble understanding the words in a normal conversation, and excessive exposure to noise is one of the leading causes of hearing loss. Because of the delicate way our inner ear is constructed, loud noises can easily cause damage, and in many instances, the damage is cumulative, getting worse the longer and more often we are exposed to them.