TAKE ON TINNITUS
How You Hear
Anatomy of the Ear
Sound waves enter the outer ear and travel through the ear canal. This causes the eardrum and tiny bones, called the hammer, anvil, and stirrup in the middle ear to vibrate. Then vibrations travel to the fluid in the cochlea where microscopic hairs send nerve signals to the brain so sound is understood. If any of these parts are damaged or pathways are blocked, it can cause hearing loss.
Virbrations travel to the fluid in the cochlea where microscopic hairs send nerve signals to the brain so sound is understood.
Tinnitus
Tinnitus is the perception of sound when no actual external noise is present. While it is commonly referred to as “ringing in the ears,” tinnitus can manifest many different perceptions of sound, including buzzing, hissing, whistling, swooshing, and clicking. Tinnitus can be both an acute (temporary) condition or a chronic (ongoing) health ailment.
Buzzing, roaring, or ringing in your ears isn't so much a condition as a symptom of something else. It could be age-related hearing loss, earwax buildup, or spending too much time in a noisy place. Sometimes it has nothing to do with your ears, like if you take certain medicines.
Some researchers believe that tinnitus results from damage to the hair cells inside your cochlea, leading to hyperactivity in the central auditory nervous system. Turbulent flow through your blood vessels also may produce a sound sensation, since blood vessels such as the carotid artery and the jugular vein lie close to the inner ear. Tinnitus may also result from a misalignment of the jaw joint (temporomandibular joint), head or neck trauma, or a variety of other medical conditions.
Tip Link
Prolonged Loud sound causes to hair cells to bend. The more the hair cells stretches it causes the connecting Tip Link to stretch. If the Tip Link stretches too much it can break like a rubber band being stretched beyond its capacity. Once broken the hair cell can no longer go back to its normal position. There is a working theory that when the Tip Link is broken too much calcium is able to get through the open channel from the break in the Tip Link and this causes the hair cell to die.
Tip Link
Stretching of the Tip Link caused by sound.
Protect Your Ears
What do Sting, Phil Collins, Chris Martin, Brian Johnson, Eric Clapton, Niel Young, Ozzy Osbourne, Pete Townshend and Steve Martin have in common? They all have permanent hearing damage - hearing loss and/or tinnitus (ringing in the ear). Hearing damage is rarely reversible; thus, prevention is currently the only real solution. Repeated exposure to loud sounds, like amplified guitars or drums, is an obvious cause, but factors such a volume, frequency distribution, duration or exposure, individual susceptibility (genetics), and age all play a role.
Guidelines recommend exposure to 85dB sound levels for no more than eight hours a day. When the sound pressure level (SPL) reaches 110dB, for example mowing your lawn or most live concerts, the maximum exposure drops to 30 seconds. That’s right - after 30 seconds, you risk permanent hearing damage! That ringing sound your hear after attending a live concert is the sound of damaged and dying hair cells in your inner ear (tinnitus). Within a day, some of those cells recover, but repeated exposure over time causes irreparable damage, and there’s currently nothing science or medicine can do to reverse that. This is the main reason you need to to focus on protecting and preserving your hearing.
Tips for keeping your ears in good shape:
•Vigorously defend your ears! This cannot be overstated. If you enjoy “feeling” the music at a rock concert, then make sure you wear ear protection. Keep earplugs with you all the time. Just toss a set of foam plugs in your backpack, pocket or purse.
• Develop the habit of paying attention to the volume levels around you in performance venues by using a loudness meter app installed on your smart phone.
• Get in the habit of earbuds or plugs when you in any loud environment, not just music venues. Put them in when using power tools, shooting firearms, mowing the grass, or going to a concert or sporting event.
Your’re only born with one set of ears. Its never too early (or too late!) to learn to take care of them.