By Deborah Bamisaye
“Turn it down?” Tokunbo laughed as the floor trembled beneath the speakers.
“It’s already deafening!” Shade yelled. “One day you won’t hear me.”
“God forbid! Don’t say that! I’ll be fine,” he said, raising the volume again. “It’s just noise.”
“I said it’s too loud,” Shade insisted before excusing herself from the scene. He nodded, pretending he’d heard.
The bass dropped – heavy, relentless.
(Years later – Tokunbo’s daughter came in to share a wonderful news.)
“Dad,” she said excitedly from the doorway, “I got the scholarship.”
He kept staring at the TV. “Ehn?”
“I said… I got the scholarship,” she said for a second time, expecting the dad to jump for joy.
He turned down the volume. “Why are you mumbling?”
She swallowed hard. “I’m not.” Her smile faded.
He looked up again and said: “What?”
“Nothing! Don’t worry Dad!” She said as she quietly walked to her room waiting for her mother to return, so she could share the exciting news again.
You see that? It had started as music, lasting for a few years but the silence it brings would now last a lifetime.
Hmmm!
Every time we push our ears to the limit – at concerts, religious houses, in clubs, or with ear buds blasting – we risk tiny hair cells in the inner ear breaking. These hair cells don’t grow back. When enough of them are damaged, sounds become muffled, high pitches disappear, and conversations turn into frustrating guessing games.
Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is silent, gradual, and often permanent – but understanding it, is the first step toward protecting your hearing.
Hearing Loss: Can Ear buds Really Damage Hearing Forever
Do you also know that prolonged and high-volume use of ear buds can cause permanent hearing damage by harming delicate hair cells in the inner ear’s cochlea, which do not regenerate? The fact that they do not regenerate, calls for intentional carefulness.
Damage Mechanism
Ear buds deliver sound directly into the ear canal, increasing sound pressure near the eardrum compared to over-ear headphones. Chronic exposure above 85 decibels damages these hair cells, leading to noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) that develops gradually and becomes irreversible.
Risk Factors
Key contributors include volume levels over safe limits (e.g., 60% max on devices), listening durations exceeding 60 minutes daily, and lack of noise-cancellation features that prompt higher volumes. Young adults face high risks, with over 1 billion globally affected by unsafe practices. That is a huge number and this is hoping that you are not among the list of affected persons or guilty of prolonged use.
Warning Signs
Early indicators are tinnitus (ringing), muffled hearing in noise, ear fatigue, or needing higher volumes- often unnoticed until permanent.
Prevention Tips
Follow the 60/60 rule: 60% volume for no more than 60 minutes. Take breaks, use noise-cancelling models, and enable device volume limiters to protect hearing long-term.
What then are the Signs & Symptoms of Noise Induced Hear-loss? Hope You are Not Having Any of Them?
Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) often starts subtly and worsens over time from repeated loud sound exposure, like ear buds at high volumes and so on.
Primary Symptoms
Common signs include muffled or distorted hearing, especially for high-pitched sounds, and tinnitus (ringing, buzzing, or roaring in the ears). You may feel ear fullness or pressure, struggle to understand speech in noisy settings, or frequently ask others to repeat themselves.
Behavioral Indicators
Turning up the TV, radio, or phone volume higher than others need, trouble distinguishing consonants like “s” and “f,” or sensitivity to loud sounds are key warnings. In children, it might show as inattentiveness or poor school performance.
Onset Patterns
Symptoms can appear immediately after acute loud noise (temporary threshold shift) or develop gradually; even if hearing seems to recover, permanent hair cell damage may linger.
What are “Hair” Cells.
A Quick Explanation:
The inner ear contains thousands of tiny hair cells that detect sound vibrations and send signals to your brain. Loud noise bends or damages these hair cells, causing muffled hearing right after exposure – this is the temporary threshold shift (TTS).
“Hair cells” is the specific term for these delicate sensors in the cochlea (inner ear).
So, What Happens If You Allow Noise to Affect Them?
Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) has no cure. I’ll say that again, “Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) has no cure.” Once permanent damage occurs, that’s it! This is because cochlear hair cells do not regenerate, but treatments focus on symptom management and halting progression.
Primary Treatments
Hearing aids or amplification devices improve sound perception for mild to moderate loss by boosting volumes and enhancing speech clarity. For severe cases, cochlear implants bypass damaged cochlea to stimulate the auditory nerve directly.
Acute Interventions
In acute acoustic trauma (within 48-72 hours), oral, intravenous, or intratympanic corticosteroids reduce inflammation and may preserve hearing; hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) combined with steroids shows promise by improving inner-ear oxygenation. Antioxidants like N-acetylcysteine (NAC) or ebselen are under study for post-exposure protection in trials.
Supportive Options
Tinnitus retraining therapy or maskers address ringing; auditory therapy teaches lip-reading or noise adaptation. Lifestyle changes – avoiding loud noise and using protection – are essential to prevent worsening.
Prof. Titus Ibekwe, Consultant ENT Surgeon, warns that millions of Nigerians suffer disabling hearing loss – many of these cases are preventable, especially when people check their ears regularly and avoid loud noise exposure. He also urges stronger national policies to protect hearing health.
Dr. Auwal Ja’afar, ENT specialist at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, urges Nigerians to avoid loud music, noisy events, and unprotected industrial noise, while seeking help early if hearing changes occur.
The music may fade, the lights may dim, but the damage inside Tokunbo’s ears would not disappear. That ringing, that faint silence between sounds, is the first warning sign of hearing loss caused by noise exposure.
This is a developing topic and it’s good to know that – we can always snatch the ‘gun’ from noise before it pulls the trigger.
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