Cell Phone Use Linked to Hearing Loss
Can you hear me now? Well, apparently, if you’re a frequent mobile phone user, there may be a chance that you won’t, or will have difficulty doing so. Here’s a report from a study conducted a couple of years ago…
More recently, medical doctors from another part of the world have also reported seeing more patients with cell phone-related hearing loss problems…
MUMBAI – Over the last decade, cellular phone usage has grown exponentially with the introduction of new communication systems and newer and smaller phone models. But it is a mark of how much people use cellphones these days, that doctors report as much as a 50% hearing loss among users.
Dr Divya Prabhat, ENT surgeon with Bhatia and Wadia hospitals, said he had been getting many patients who complain of pain in the ears and even hearing loss.
“The most common complaint is that after they hang up, the ears get hot. Many patients come with complaints of tinnitus, where there is a buzzing in the ears. This also results in irritability and lack of concentration,” he said.
But the most serious ENT problem is hearing loss. “I recently got a 45-year-old patient who had 30% hearing loss in her right ear, as she would be on phone all the time. When I told her to talk on the phone with the left ear, three months later she came with a 50% hearing loss in the left ear,” Dr Prab-hat said.
These are temporary threshold shifts, he said, meaning that these problems can be cured, when the habit is changed early. But if a person continues to use the phone excessively, it may turn into a permanent problem.
See full story on indiatimes.com
These reports are not conclusive, but they deserve as much attention as other similar reports. As always, the best preventive action is to take precautionary measures to reduce any potential health risks.
*Image courtesy of Stuart Miles/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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Ringing in your ears, headache that doesn't dissipate, just maybe an experiment , turn the cell phone off when not in use, especially when you go to sleep.
Ringing in your ears, headache that doesn’t dissipate, just maybe an experiment , turn the cell phone off when not in use, especially when you go to sleep.