Time to Fall Back: What Will You Do with Your Extra Hour?

One of my favourite days of the year is when we get to set the clocks back an hour. In fact, I usually don’t set the clocks back until later in the day so I can have that lovely feeling of gaining an hour. It’s kind of nice to be in the middle of a task, see the time as being noon and having the realization: “Oh, it’s only 11! My morning isn’t over yet!” This year, I’ve been so busy with work (which is a good thing) that I’ll be spending my extra hour sneaking in work. What will you do with your extra hour? Continue reading

Start Christmas Shopping Now for the Music Lovers

Yet another article on the damaging effects of consistent exposure to loud music via earphones or concerts made me think about this year’s Christmas list. Do you have music lovers on your list? If you do, you should read this article and truly consider purchasing some hearing protection for them!

Hearing damage can occur after exposure to decibel levels as low as 85 dB. Hearing damage is permanent and irreversible. Tiny hair cells in the inner ear convert sound energy into electrical signals. These signals travel to the brain where the sound is interpreted. Hearing damage occurs when the hair cells are damaged, and the worst part is, they don’t grow back. This is why hearing damage is permanent and irreversible. The only way to improve hearing after hearing damage occurs it to wear hearing aids. Continue reading

How Will Hearing Loss Affect Your Relationships?

I mentioned this a few blogs ago: Earplugs now or hearing aids later! I’ll add to that: Earplugs now or divorce later? Studies show that marriages are negatively affected by hearing loss. Though there may be times you wish you couldn’t hear your spouse, consider how important communication truly is in a marriage.

Many marital problems have everything to do with a lack of communication between spouses. Feelings of resentment might build when emotions are held back. Frustration may build when one spouse feels the other is ignoring requests. So, when communication is thwarted with an actual physical inability to hear the other person, you can imagine how much this augments the situation. Continue reading

How to Protect Your Child

Millions of us are exposed to dangerous noise levels on a daily basis and the situation for our children is not any different. In fact, children’s toys can reach decibel levels nearly as loud as a jet taking off (160 db)! See, they aren’t just annoying but dangerous to boot!

Things are quite a bit different for our kids than they were for us. Speakers are smaller but louder. Technology such as MP3 players, iPods, handheld gaming devices and tons of little “key-chain” type critters that blip and bleep are common in today’s households. Our lives are busier, noisier and even classrooms are noisier today. Continue reading

Humorous Take on Serious Quiz

After reading through questions on a hearing loss quiz from an article in U.S. News, my strange sense of humour kicked in and I had to comment on some of the questions. Yes, hearing loss is a serious subject and I highly advocate (as you know) the use of hearing protection. However, in a world so full of serious stuff, let’s take a break and have a bit of a laugh! Well, I hope you do, anyway!

If you take the hearing loss quiz and answer yes to more than three questions, you may have some amount of hearing loss. I was thinking, though, that many of the questions could have another reason or answer. Here’s my take. Continue reading

The BEST iPod Accessory!

If you’ve read my blog before, you know I’m a major music lover. As I write, I’m listening to my iPod (drowning out the kids in the background, see previous blog entry on this!). I also love to have my music playing while I run on the treadmill. It takes me to another world so I can get through the rather monotonous cardio. However, as often as I listen to my iPod, I didn’t want to experience hearing damage, so I made an investment and had my custom earphones made to protect my ears.

The process was quite simple. I ordered the ProGuard fleximonitor kit and had an appointment at a local audiologist where they took impressions of my ear canals. I sent the impressions back in the pre-paid post box, and two weeks later, my custom earphones arrived. Continue reading