Simple ways to protect your hearing

by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition

Photo credit: Daniel Frese

The title of this New York Post article written by Fox News reporter Reem Amro is “Six Simple Ways to Protect Your Hearing Before It’s Too Late” but only four of them are evidence-based. The first two are the most important: Limit exposure to loud noises and shield your ears in noisy environments. I agree completely with these two recommendations. As I often write, if something sounds loud, it’s too loud and one’s auditory health is at risk. Turn down the volume, leave the noise environment or use hearing protection.

Amro recommends regular hearing screenings, but the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force reviewed the published data and does not recommend regular hearing screenings for adults because there is no proven benefit from doing such screenings. Neither do I. 

His fourth recommendation is to stop smoking. That’s a good recommendation for cardiovascular health and to reduce the risk of a wide variety of cancers.

His fifth recommendation, to be aware of a variety of age-related ear conditions, is of questionable value. What does one gain by being aware of tinnitus or benign paroxysmal positional vertigo? 

Amro’s final recommendation, to be aware of ototoxicity of various medications, is also of questionable value. There are a wide variety of ototoxic drugs and many of these are frequently taken but as one researcher stated, “There are also no accurate figures on the prevalence of ototoxicity.” The most common ototoxic drugs are cancer chemotherapeutic agents and powerful antibiotics.  Given a choice of risk of ototoxicity or death from cancer or a serious infection, I think most people would accept the risk.

Well, three out of six isn’t a bad batting percentage, and at least Amro got a few things right. If even one reader learns more about protecting hearing, that would be a good thing.