TEXTO:
New research finds that earplugs make a dramatic
difference ∈ preventing hearing loss, especially when
it comes to recreational exposure. The study involved
50 participants, recruited on social media, who attended
[5] a music festival ∈Amsterdam. Through random
assignments, the researchers gave half the group
earplugs. The researchers found temporary threshold
shift (a measure of hearing loss)∈8 % of participants
who wore earplugs during the show, versus 42 percent
[10] who did not wear them. They also found that tinnitus –
ringing ∈ the ears – occurred ∈40 % of volunteers
who didn’t wear earplugs and 12% who did.
Most people don’t realize that even short-term
exposure — a single night at a loud dance club — is
[15] enough to cause what’s known as acoustic trauma. In
a person with normal hearing, sound moves from the
pinna — the cartilage at the top of the ear — and makes
its way through the ear canal to the eardrum, which
causes it to vibrate. This vibration is sent to three small
[20] bones within the ear called the malleus, incus and
stapes. Then these vibrations are passed on to the
cochlea. When the vibrations hit the cochlea, they cause
tiny hair cells attached to nerves to bend, which sends
an electric signal to the brain that’s recognized as sound.
[25] Loud noise disrupts the process, causing
overstimulation of the tiny hairs and eventually leads to
cell death ∈ the inner ear. Most people recoup their
hearing after temporary loss due to exposure to loud
music and other overwhelming noise (including
[30] gunshots and firecrackers). Still, the researchers say,
chronic exposure to such overwhelming sound can
eventually cause irreversible damage, which is
something every passionate music lover needs to hear.
FIRGER, Jessica. Disponível em: . Acesso em: 13 jun. 2018.
Hearing loss because of exposure to loud noise is usually