Susannah Hickling

Seven ways to protect your ears

Did you know that ten million people in the UK have some hearing loss? In fact, long-term exposure to sounds that are only as loud as a food processor and just a bit less noisy than a lawnmower can damage your ears.

Here are some easy ways to avoid going deaf – or preserve what hearing you’ve got:

  1. Turn it down. An MP3 player turned up to max can be as loud as a pneumatic drill. Get someone to stand next to you when you’re listening to your iPod. If they can hear it above your earphones, then it’s loud enough to do damage.
  2. Make earplugs your friend. Be kind to your ears when going to a gig by wearing earplugs or investing in a set of music-muffling headphones.

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