2023-10-10 23:00:00
Having good hearing is essential to better understanding the world. A touch, a rustle, a squeak… give rise to an interpretation. But what makes our ears so valuable?
Not without hearing
Even without seeing them, hearing provides a wealth of information about everyday details. We know straight away if the traffic outside is heavy, if the cars are driving at high speed or not. We can even tell by the sound of the horns if the drivers are irritated. It is also our ears that feel the atmosphere: an empty room will not have the same resonance as a full room. In the same way that a horror film will not have the same flavor without sound… The lapping on a window is a sign of rain, the crackling in the fireplace indicates that the fire is lit. These omnipresent sound signals influence our actions: the sirens of an ambulance encourage us to react quickly while the shrill alarm of our vehicle reminds us to wear a seat belt. Our delicate flags can recognize a voice among those of billions of people! And detect its origin. Even when we sleep, we continue to hear. How else could we rail against our awakening?
The broken ear
However, the WHO estimates that “12% of the Belgian population suffers from hearing loss”. Which roughly corresponds to the global average of “one in six people”! More worrying: “Only a third of these people wear a hearing aid.” However, we know that a hearing problem “exposes us more to accidents and falls”. The reason is the resulting drop in vigilance. As an indication, there are four levels of deafness: mild (20 to 39 dB of hearing loss), medium (40 to 69 dB), severe (70 to 89 dB) and profound (more than 90 dB). Noise is considered toxic from 90 dB, i.e. the sound of a drill. “If this noise pollution lasts a few seconds, it is harmless, as long as it is not repeated regularly,” warns otolaryngologist Françoise Genard. “A normal conversation reaches 50 dB. It is from 70 dB that a sound emitted for too long can start to damage your ears.”
Don’t turn a deaf ear!
Three factors affect hearing: age, genetics and exposure to noise. “For the first two, there is not much to do,” she warns. “On the other hand, to preserve your hearing, it is better to avoid noise that is too intense.” Exit “discotheques, concerts and festivals with amplified music”, warns the Superior Health Council. These signals should alert you: loss of understanding in noisy spaces, whistling, hypersensitivity to loud sounds or tinnitus. When we know that “10 to 30% of the population are affected,” adds the CSS… Finally, it is recommended to use earplugs during noisy activities, to have your hearing checked in time, to reduce the sound of your headphones or headphones, while not listening for more than an hour and… to ban cotton buds. To the wise!
Did you know ?
Our two ears do not hear the same way. If the right is more sensitive to music, the left would be more disposed to speech. Our ears grow throughout our lives. Only one person in ten thousand would have absolute pitch, the ability to identify a musical note played in isolation, without any prior auditory reference. The most famous examples are Bach, Mozart, but also Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey and Lady Gaga.
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