Can Noise-Induced Hearing Loss Be Temporary?

Hearing loss can come in many different forms, but the one that most people are familiar with is noise-induced hearing loss. This form of hearing loss can be temporary or permanent depending on the causes of the change in hearing.

What Is Noise-Induced Hearing Loss?

Noise-induced hearing loss is a form of hearing loss that has been caused by a loud noise or repeated exposure to loud noises. Our ears are designed to carry sounds to our brains, but the ear canal and the inner ear can experience damage if the noise is too much. However, noise can affect hearing in several ways:

• When a sudden and extremely loud sound, such as an explosion, a gunshot or a firecracker occurs close to the ear. It can damage any of the structures in the ear and produces an immediate, severe and often permanent hearing loss. This type of injury often requires immediate medical attention as it can be painful.
• When loud sounds, such as the music from a rock concert, cause a temporary ringing and hearing loss. Sounds may also seem muffled. These effects usually don’t last more than a few hours, although they may sometimes last several days or weeks. Repeated exposure to sounds that cause temporary hearing loss can gradually lead to permanent hearing loss, commonly referred to as noise-induced hearing loss.
• Repeated, frequent exposure to loud or moderately loud sounds over a long period of time, often years. Although this is permanent, this kind of hearing loss is almost entirely preventable.

It is important to know how different noises affect our hearing. It is the decibel level that can cause the damage rather than the sound itself. For example, if you are watching a movie at home and there are sirens, they will be around 70dB. However, if you are standing beside a fire truck when it flicks the sirens on, you could be exposed to a sound of 120dB.

• Normal conversation: 60-70dB
• Movie theater: 74-104dB
• Motorcycles and dirt bikes: 80-110dB
• Music through headphones at maximum volume, sporting events and concerts: 94-110dB
• Sirens: 110-129dB
• Fireworks show: 140-160dB

As you can see, there are many different ways that our hearing can be affected by the noises around us. Some of them we can avoid, such as wearing ear protection when firing a gun. Other causes are down to the wear and tear of our ears over time.

How Does the Ear Work?

Having our ears exposed to noise all day long is the ears job, but do you know how they work:

• When a sound is made, the sound waves enter the outer ear and travel through a narrow passageway called the ear canal, which leads to the eardrum.
• As the sound enters the eardrum, it vibrates from the incoming sound waves and sends these vibrations to three tiny bones in the middle ear. These bones are called the malleus, incus and stapes.
• At this point, the bones in the middle ear couple the sound vibrations from the air to fluid vibrations in the cochlea of the inner ear. This is shaped like a snail and filled with fluid. An elastic partition runs from the beginning to the end of the cochlea, splitting it into upper and lower parts. This partition is called the basilar membrane because it serves as the base, or ground floor, on which key hearing structures sit.
• Once the vibrations cause the fluid inside the cochlea to ripple, a traveling wave of sound forms along the basilar membrane. Hair cells, the sensory cells sitting on top of the basilar membrane, then ride the wave.
• As the hair cells move up and down, microscopic hair-like projections, known as stereocilia, that perch on top of the hair cells bump against an overlying structure and bend. This bending causes pore-like channels, which are at the tips of the stereocilia, to open up. Once this happens, chemicals rush into the cell, creating an electrical signal.
• The auditory nerve carries this electrical signal to the brain, which translates it into a sound that we recognize and understand. This entire process happens so fast, we don’t realize it is happening.

Noise-induced hearing loss can be temporary, it all depends on how the loss occurred and if hearing loss treatment was sought. If you would like to learn more about New Hartford Hearing Center and how they can assist you with any hearing loss issues, call us today at 315-801-2991.