May is Better Hearing and Speech Month:

Better Hearing and Speech Month is an annual event that provides opportunities to raise awareness about communication disorders and promotes treatments that can improve the quality of life for those who experience problems with speaking, understanding, or hearing.  

The ability to hear is critical to understanding the world around us. The human ear is a fully developed part of our bodies at birth and responds to sounds that are very faint as well as sounds that are very loud. Even before birth, infants respond to sound.

How do we hear?

The ear can be divided into three parts leading up to the brain – the outer ear, middle ear and the inner ear.

• The outer ear consists of the ear canal and eardrum. Sound travels down the ear canal, striking the eardrum and causing it to move or vibrate.
• The middle ear is a space behind the eardrum that contains three small bones called ossicles.
• This chain of tiny bones is connected to the eardrum at one end and to an opening to the inner ear at the other end. Vibrations from the eardrum cause the ossicles to vibrate which, in turn, creates movement of the fluid in the inner ear.

 

Top 5 Ways To Protect Your Hearing:

Loud noise can create physical and psychological stress, reduce productivity, interfere with communication and concentration, and contribute to workplace accidents and injuries by making it difficult to hear warning signals. Noise-induced hearing loss limits your ability to hear high frequency sounds, understand speech, and seriously impairs your ability to communicate. The effects of hearing loss can be profound, as hearing loss can interfere with your ability to enjoy socializing with friends, playing with your children or grandchildren, or participating in other social activities you enjoy, and can lead to psychological and social isolation. It is important that we take the proper precautions to protect our ear health.