I have been receiving repeated requests from you on various aspects of hearing protection, and how hearing damage occurs. so am documenting this down for all of you. please archive this document carefully. and as usual, this is precious, so please share this with others in your family and those close to you.

the biggest cause of hearing damage, especially in people our age, and even younger, is due to loud music. nearing 80dB and higher. even a 15-minute exposure to the output from a dj's system is enough to give you irreparable, irrevocable, damage.

if you lose your eyesight, you could somehow get it back, *if* someone were to donate eyes to you. and of course, the surgery and procedure is painful, and living on borrowed eyes, even when paid for, cannot be really matched with money.

but once you have hearing-loss, even if someone donates ears to you, you can't get it back. and *nobody* in this world has *tough* ears. no one can "heal" your ears in any way. once gone, the damage is done.

if you rot your teeth (with colas, sweets, bad diet) you can have the teeth removed, and put dentures or false teeth, and eat food to survive. but you can't get false ears. Getting a hearing aid is a temporary solution that again, further spirals your deafness.

surprisingly, the damage is occurring at a younger age. people in the agegroup of 5 to 30 have ears equivalent to a 60-year-old and above person. partial deafness is everywhere, which is why things are unusually loud with stereo systems, tvs, cellphones, even at malls, shopping complexes etc. the partially-deaf need ironically, the volume to be cranked up. Living in an urban jungle, you could possibly damage atleast one frequency a day in your ears.

• you could step out on the streets without your clothes, but never step out without ear-plugs or ear-seals. wearing sun-glasses is fashionable though they protect your eyes. strange how people going deaf haven't thought about saving their ears from horns, traffic, street noise. but hold on, don't get unusually high ear plugs, you dont wanna create a wall of silence around you so you can't hear the oncoming cars. just a mild seal or plug, at about 20dB is good enough.
  
  
• please listen to not more than 1 hour of music per day. teach your ears to rest, let them enjoy silent spaces. avoid crappy and useless noises like polyphonic ringtones, high-compression mp3 music or bad-quality amplified sounds. avoid compulsive radio-listening, tv-watching at high-volumes.
  
  
• boldly walk up to that possibly tone-deaf restaurant or cafe manager, and tell him to turn down the volume on that stereo or tv. or do what nidhi does: tell them to switch it off. if you can't hold a conversation at normal levels, walk out after filing a written complaint with the manager.
  
  
• if you visit a loud mall (think of landscapes and buildings as soundscapes) stuff some ear wax first. you will love the pleasant experience. if you enter a movie hall, use slight attenuation ear wax and plugs, like the one's we've ordered. yes, always, keep a few pairs handy in your wallet, purse, pocket. consider it mandatory.
  
  
• don't wear ear-protection while driving a car, the effect can be disorienting. roll up windows, get the ac running, and that's good enough. but if on a two-wheeler, three-wheeler, use protection, and use ear mufflers. if just a passenger, certainly use the maximum ear-protection you can get.
  
  
• at industrial sites, always carry ear plugs, and use them generously.
  
  
• use tuning forks to teach your ears pitch-training, and to sensitise your ears to ultra-low-volume sounds. listen carefully to the fading tuning fork sound, to singing bells, to gentle chimes, and things which are far away and faint in sound.
  
  
• create an ambience of silence around you, with sound-absorbing surfaces like curtains, carpets, fabrics, "quiet floors" "quiet kitchens" and so on.
  
  
• car music is the worst thing on the planet. first it is compulsive. you cannot bear the idea of being alone. but, if it calms your nerves, keep it at half the volume. if you can learn to avoid it, great. avoid chatty, noisy, radio shows or music in the car. learn to pick up soft, ambient sounds and music for the car. yes, it makes a difference.
  
  
• research shows that with each passing year, the music industry has been recording music with more volume and gain. so that means, your volume knob should be at a quarter or less. teach yourself to crank down the volume, rather than up.
  
  
  
• never compromise on your stereo system or sound equipment. buy the best, check for minimum distortion, and choose the system based on your reference cds, for good quality at low volumes.
  
  
• tell your nephews, nieces, children, friends, lovers, to love their ears and how to look after them.
  
  
• the second way people get deaf, is through diet and hygiene. get your nutrition-check.
  
  
• hygiene: many people damage their ears with ear-buds. the long sticks are themselves not damaging, but if you *insert* the whole stick into your ear, you are going to 'beat the ear-drum' if you excuse a bad pun. insert not more than 0.9 cm (9mm) in your ears, and that too for waxing out, not waxing in. check with the clinic if they have special eardrops to clean ears.
  
  
• get your ears checked from an ENT today evening or tomorrow morning. yes, that soon. ask them to do a routine checkup. check with two ENTs to double-check. if they look incredulously at you (they love selling hearing aids, not ear-protectors, as has been our experience in india among our group so far) just tell them you are studying to be a sound engineer or something.
  
  
  
• if you get tinnitus, or a long, tinny, ringing sound in your ears, that's it, you are probably losing one painful nerve of a certain frequency for good. say bye bye to it with love. and swear to yourself you'll kiss your ears every morning and protect them forever.
  
  
• don't re-use earbuds. don't share earbuds or ear plugs or whatever. never borrow someone's walkman or something and stuff those earphones into your ears. yech!
  
  
• use disposable earplugs and chuck them. else, buy washable, boilable earplugs and use. always use clean hands before inserting these into your ear canal.
  
  
• in some very rare cases, certain types of non-normal high-fevers and other illnesses in the body can lead to hearing loss too.
  
  
• avoid careers that require you to punish your ears.
  
  
• don't think using earplugs solve your problems. you could still damage your ears if the earplugs are incorrectly inserted, or if they pop out. in anycase, PLEASE AVOID DISCOS AND DANCE CLUBS WITH loud music even with earplugs. its far better to throw your own party where you can control the volume. you could ofcourse, enter a dance club with earplugs at 32dB and higher, PLUS ear-mufflers on top, but hey! that's weird.
  
  
• visit concerts, shows, events, with special earplugs with optional neck-strings, so you can enjoy music and sounds attenuated at 32dB. avoid crackers or use protection.
  
  
• cotton is not a good attenuator, in your ears.
  
  
• may people go partially deaf due to snoring partners. screw love. if the snoring is not urable, move away, use ear-seals, or both. some people joke a deaf partner is a good partner for a successful relationshiop. bad joke.
  
  
• don't finger your ears. yech!
  
  
• google-search on the different types of earplugs, ear mufflers, ear seals, and always keep a generous stock in hand. badger your chemists to store them, and do what i do: gift them to as many people as i can, so they understand the value of their ears.
  
• for audiophiles: i recommend, if they can afford, special ear-plugs that attenuate outer sounds while piping in only the music to your ears directly from the headphones-jeck, so you can only hear the music: pure music. google for more.
  
  
• in loud environments, use white-noise machines, or pink-noise machines, to minimize noise. google for these.
  
  
• recently, i learnt a simple, yogic technique for better ears. will share with you guys. others, google.
  
  
  
• a caller using a cellphone in a noisy environment chucks loud packets of noise to a called person. i had this experience recently when a cousin called me from an ear-shattering movie hall. i just hung up politely, and used sms
  
  
• sometimes, using cellphones or telephones near high-electricity cables or similar agnetic fields can cause loud pops in the phones, or even poorly-shielded car radios. switch them off.
  
  
• if your ears burn with cellphone use, or you feel pain or discomfort with long use, DO SOMETHING. get speakerphones, blue-tooth, or whatever. PLEASE DO NOT IGNORE THIS PROBLEM, and disregard medical experts who pooh-pooh burning-ears-syndrome with cellphone microwaves. you don't wanna feel regret if further research shows to them they were wrong. the possibility exists.
  
  
• do you realize almost all the sounds you hear today are amplified? tv, radio, phones, intercoms, stereo, movies, public speeches with lapel mikes and cordless microphones, and even musical instruments are amplified. yech! give to your ears the beauty of organic, natural sounds from acoustic instruments. you have to experience this to understand what i mean. look for and attend small audience musical and theatrical perfomances.
  
  
• ah! this is important: children: nephews, nieces, neighbours', your own, please do not be irresponsible and expose them to loud noises. they are even more prone to damage. don't take them unprotected on two-wheelers, three-wheelers, to loud wedding processions, or encourage them to dance on those horrid dance-floors with loud music at wedding events. don't take infants to movie halls and loud concerts. use white-noise machines at home and schools to protect their ears in damaging environments, such as near busy traffic roads. monitor them during commutes to playgrounds, schools, and back, for noises.
  
  
• i discovered my nephew got a gift of a cd walkman. advised him how to protect his ears: only 1 hour of music per day, clean the headphones, wax your ears, keep the volume at 30%, and taught to him the joy of listening to 'silence' and resting his ears.
  
  
• personal irritant: avoid "slapping" a windchime. let it gently ring with the breeze or with a gentle breath from you. enjoy the harmonics and subtle sounds. that's its beauty. remember, its a 'wind' chime, not a 'slap' chime.
  
  
• learn to develop "inner ears". for example, place your hand on your heart to feel your heart-beat, and try to move into silent, meditative spaces, where you can actually hear your own heartbeat. wear maximum ear-protection to hear yourself breathing, to hear your heels as you walk, and other inner sounds.
  
  
• personal favourite: i always speak softly. this makes others around me respond to me by speaking softly. how effective!
  
  
• another personal favourite: if i am hungry on-the-road, i don't walk into a cafe or restaurant and subjugate myself to loud noises. i order take-away, and enjoy my drink or bite, in the much quieter peace and silence of my car, usually parked in a quiet place. try it, what a lovely experience! and yes, quiet environs or with good music at the right volumes is great for your appetite.
  
• get an idea of damaging sound levels: http://www.abelard.org/hear/hear.htm
  
• arplugs range http://store.yahoo.com/earplugstore/index.html
  
  
• amaging sound levels and other stuff:
  
  http://headwize2.powerpill.org/articles/hearing_art.htm
  http://www.lhh.org/noise/decibel.htm
  
  f you are a sound pro, enthusiast, or musician, this is for your ears:
  http://www.hearnet.com/index.shtml
  
  for people with pet dogs, or interested in animal kingdom ears: http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/vet00/vet00003.htm
  
  if you google for 'hearing loss pain threshold of noise' you will get an exhaustive list of references.
  
• inally, don't get paranoid. just be sense+audible=sensible. :-)