All that noise that we all take for granted as part of life is doing damage to our ears.  Not only that, but a lot of us actually subject our ears to dangerous sound levels everyday ON PURPOSE. When you crank up your car radio, stick on headphones or go to a loud concert, your ears are taking a beating. Ears don’t show bruises like other parts of your body will, but they can be damaged just the same. 

Your ear is made up of three areas- the outer ear, middle ear and inner ear. The outer ear includes the part you can see on the outside of your body (this is designed to catch sounds and direct them into your inner ear) and the main ear canal. Your middle ear contains your ear drum which senses the vibrations.  The inner ear is dominated by the cochlea- which contains liquid and many little hairs which move with the vibrations of sound and capture the signals to transfer to the brain. This is the most sensitive part of the ear and damage to it is almost always permanent.

Each part of your ear is very delicate. It’s important to protect them in any way you can. Although not all hearing loss is caused by noise, it is the most common factor behind hearing loss; and if you were thinking that hearing loss is an old person’s problem, think again. Every year the average age for gradual hearing loss gets younger and younger. As the decibel (sound) levels get louder and louder in places like movie theaters, concerts, and even just on city streets, our ears are paying the price. 

The best way to protect your ears is to give them some rest each day. Do you ever give your ears a rest by sitting in a quiet area or do you constantly have noise all around you? Do you ever take those headphones off or turn the radio down while doing your homework? When you go to concerts how close are you to the speakers? Have you ever thought about putting to use a little added protection like ear plugs? Try it sometime; you just may be saving your hearing.