Natural Noise Protection

Loud noise isn't just a hazard for maintaining good hearing. It's also annoying. Researchers publishing their findings in the Scandinavian Journal of Work and Environmental Health found that chronic noise exposure increases fatigue and irritability after work. The researchers found that, after the workday was over, these fatigue symptoms and postwork irritability made relaxation difficult.

Noise protection reducing unwanted background noise by 30-33 dB (earmuffs) for 7 days produced significant improvement in irritability and fatigue symptoms. Furthermore, urinary cortisol secretion was shown to increase with unwanted background noise. Stress hormone levels fall back to normal only after seven days away from noise. The use of hearing protection seems even to promote self-confidence and reduce hostility to others.

So what can you do? Here are some simple steps:

Wear ear protection. Earmuffs, the kind that go over your ears and are worn by luggage handlers around jet planes, cost around $10 a pair. foam earplugs are 25-50 cents a pair. Both earmuffs and earplugs are available where sporting goods are sold. Used before exposure to loud sounds, earmuffs and earplugs can prevent a potential hearing loss. Be sure earplugs fit snugly in the ear, or they are of no value.

A homeopathic approach to sudden hearing loss would begin with Belladonna, with addition of Kali Mur and Kali Phos. Bellandonna is a general remedy for all kinds of sudden changes in health "above-the-neck." Kali Mur "drains" the ear and Kali Phos is used to treat tinnitus and the nervous exhaustion it may cause. There is some scientific research supporting the use of homeopathics in treating ear inflammation, but no clinical trials have studied the use of homeopathics for acoustic trauma.

Neuromonics, an Australian-designed therapy consisting of custom-designed CDs for listening two to three hours a day to very high frequency sound to keep sensory pathways in the brain active, is sometimes used to treat sudden hearing loss from acoustic trauma. There are no guarantees, however, and a program usually requires six months of treatment at a total cost of US $5000.

Sport shooting (skeet and trap) is especially damaging to hearing. There are now available earmuffs that allow shooters to hear conversations and environmental sounds (so the shooter is not in danger of being shot by another participant) but block the sound of gunshots.

Occasionally people who have lost their hearing regain it after eliminating dairy products (and processed foods containing whey, such as lunch meats). In these cases, hearing loss was due to a reaction to milk protein causing inflammation in the inner ear rather than acoustic trauma, but eliminating dairy products for a trial period of 3 to 6 weeks will not damage health and may be helpful.

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