Regular WYSO listeners are likely familiar with the voice of Jim Carter, better known as Rev Cool.
He’s been the host of Around the Fringe, and a fixture of the Dayton music scene for more than 40 years. In the ‘80s, Rev booked reggae and punk shows and started his own record label, I WANNA Records. He also went to a lot of concerts.
It wasn’t long before he noticed it taking a toll on his hearing.
“I think people started telling me, ‘You can’t hear what I’m saying, you’re not understanding what I’m saying,’” Rev recalled. “I thought it was great when I would come away from a show and everything would be dead, or I’d have ringing in my ears. I’d think, ‘That was a good show, I’m half deaf!’ I would do this all the time.”
This “deadening” effect Rev was experiencing after loud shows is known in audiology as a “temporary threshold shift" — a kind of short-term hearing loss that is now understood as a precursor to long-term deficits.
“There are a couple of cases where damage to the inner ear can be reversed, but that’s quite rare. Right now, it is permanent. And it not only could cause difficulty hearing people speak, but also reduce the appreciation, the love, the beauty of music.”
About 1 in 10 U.S. adults have difficulty hearing, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Much of this hearing loss is related to aging or exposure to industrial noise, but people who listen to loud music may also be at increased risk. And hearing loss isn’t just unpleasant; it is also a risk factor for other health conditions, including dementia.
Hearing is a mechanical process, with sound waves vibrating “drums” in our ears, but that’s only part of the story, according to Marshall Chasin, director of audiology and research at the Musicians' Clinics of Canada.
“Behind the eardrum are three little bones. They’re the three smallest bones in the human body, and they transduce vibrations from the eardrum microphone to the inner ear,” Chasin said. “The inner ear is the size of the top of my small finger, yet it’s filled with fluid and 13,000 to 15,000 nerve endings.”
Those nerve endings transduce sounds into signals that are sent to the brain.
Temporary hearing loss can result from obstructions in the outer or middle ear, from ear wax or inflammation caused by infections. But the kind of hearing loss that Rev experienced is related to damage to the inner ear. That type of damage, Chasin said, is generally permanent.
“There are a couple of cases where damage to the inner ear can be reversed, but that’s quite rare,” he said. “Right now, it is permanent. And it not only could cause difficulty hearing people speak, but also reduce the appreciation, the love, the beauty of music.”
There is some evidence that music is less damaging than equally intense industrial noise – like noise at factories, mines and construction sites. But there’s no doubt that repeated exposure to loud music can cause permanent hearing loss.
Chasin said it helps to think about sound exposure in terms of “dosing,” meaning that it’s not enough to protect one’s ears at really loud concerts; people should also think about prolonged exposure to noise they might not realize is damaging.
For example, 40 hours a week of exposure to 85 decibels could damage your ears as much as 15 minutes at a really loud concert.
“It's incredible how quiet 85 decibels really is….. a dial tone on a telephone–if anyone has a landline–is 85 decibels,” Chasin said. “Nobody would think that listening to a dial tone on a phone is damaging. On your smartphone, listening to music, maybe on volume three or four of 10, that's about 85 decibels.”
In addition, relatively small, even imperceptible increases in volume can bring on damage much more rapidly, he added. While a person can safely listen to music at 85 decibels for about eight hours each day, that time is cut in half for each increase of 3 decibels. At 100 decibels — a level frequently exceeded in concerts and nightclubs — damage can occur from just 15 minutes of daily exposure.
The bright side is that it's much easier to assess and reduce noise exposure today than in past decades. Chasin recommends an app developed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which alerts users when they reach their weekly recommended dose of noise, through he cautions that sound metering apps are more accurate on Apple than Android devices.
Improvements in earplug technology have also made it possible to enjoy music in loud settings without damaging your ears and without taking too much away from the experience. Just look for products that have a “flat” frequency response, often marketed as “musicians’ ear plugs.”
There’s also been improvement in hearing aid technology. Chasin’s research focuses on developing hearing aids that preserve the fidelity of music, which was often distorted in previous generations of the technology.
“I have many hard-of-hearing musicians and many hard-of-hearing conductors that are successfully using the hearing aids up on stage. And they're still very effective,” Chasin said. “They not only enjoy their music, but they can be hired as musicians even with hearing loss.”
His biggest tip to music lovers?
“There's nothing wrong with loud music. Go and enjoy it thoroughly,” Chasin said. “Just do it in moderation. Common sense. And if you’re going to be in a noisy location, hearing protection can be very useful.”
Despite his difficulty hearing, Rev Cool said he has never considered quitting. After getting hearing aids — which, he admits, are less than perfect — he’s continued to go to concerts and host Around the Fringe on WYSO.
“It's my life,” he said. “It'd be sort of like you saying, well, how do you keep breathing? Or how does your heart keep beating? Or, how do you keep enjoying the sunset or flowers? You just have to find ways to do that as much as possible.”
