Noise Induced Hearing Loss

CENTERVILLE, OH (WDTN) - Just 15 minutes of listening to an I-pod at a moderate level can damage your hearing for life. In fact, we put our hearing at risk several times a day, often without realizing it. Here's what you need to know to prevent hearing loss.

John Ritzinger is hearing things he hasn't heard in years. "I heard a clock tick, I heard the car blinker blinks, and I never heard that." said John. John has noise induced hearing loss. Years of working in a factory, hunting and going to loud concerts permanently damaged his hearing. "There's nothing visible immediately. But you can have warning signs. Ringing in your ears after an exposure to noise, things can sound muffled" said audiologist Mary Ann Heider of Hillcrest Hearing Aids.

Many of us don't realize how quickly a loud environment can potentially damage our hearing. Sound is measured in decibels. Anything over 60, such as a normal conversation is considered very loud. A vacuum cleaner, hair dryer or blender fall into that category. Over 120 decibels is painful. That includes rock concerts, or airplanes. "If you're in an environment where you have to raise your voice to hear the other person you're with, that environment is potentially damaging. It's too loud." said Heider.

But the permanent damage is preventable. Turning down music, avoiding loud environments or simply using ear plugs. For the last ten years, John has struggled to hear. "You become very focused when you have a hearing loss and you tense up, which I didn't know I was doing until I got the hearing aids and just relaxed."

For the last several weeks, John has been using state of the art digital hearing aids, which have opened up his world. An audiologist calibrates the aids to John's specific hearing problems, and with a remote control, he can adjust them at any time. They also log how often John wears them, and the kind of noises in his environment. John has experienced incredible improvement in less than a month. "After the first week, I was like oh, I don't know if they're worth the money. After the second week, you couldn't get them out of my ears. " The model of John's hearing aids cost $6,700.00. Insurance often pays a portion of the cost.

If you'd like to help bring awareness to hearing loss, you can join the walk 4 hearing this weekend at Carillon Park. It begins at ten a.m.. For more information check the web links section of this page.