Most days I get up for work
around 4 a.m. I start the day with a shower, coffee, and a 35-minute drive to
work. When I get to work, I start prepping
for our Jeff and Jenn Morning Show on Q102. I watch local news and learn what
is going on in the world. I sit down at my desk around 6 a.m. and start the
show. Prep, check. Show calendar, check.
Headphones, check. Same routine, every morning. My headphone volume starts around a two, and by the time 10 a.m. rolls around, it increases to about a seven. I kept noticing day after day that I would
increase my volume from like that. Why am I
turning it up throughout the morning? Does hearing need to be amplified as the day goes along?
Last month, I went to a Luke
Bryan concert. My seats were awesome. Singing along to every song at the top of
my lungs was the best. What wasn’t the best? The constant sound of ringing in
my ears the next day because of how loud the speakers were right in front of
me. Eventually I could hear again, but I started thinking… When was the last
time I had my hearing checked? I’m
pretty sure I was in grade school. If you really think about it, hearing is
something that is so important to us in our everyday life, but we don’t really
take many precautions to preserve it. Can you even preserve your hearing? How would you even go about doing
that?
From the headphone volume to
the ringing from the concert, I’ve noticed that I have been turning up the
volume pretty often. I knew I could hear, but I wanted to see if I had any
damage to my hearing because of working at the radio station or even just from
every day activities like listening to music. I asked my friends at The Christ
Hospital if they could set up an appointment for me to get a hearing screening.
I wanted to talk to someone about why I keep having to turn up my headphone
volume, and if, in fact, wearing headphones is harmful to my hearing. I went to
The Christ Hospital Outpatient Center - Montgomery to sit down with Matthew Hensler, MD, who is an Otolaryngologist, or an Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) doctor, and Audiologist Dora Murphy-Courter. Dora did my hearing
screening and Dr. Hensler answered a lot of my questions about hearing. We talked a lot about ENT conditions and why someone might need to see an Otolaryngologist.
Dr. Hensler says that an
Otolaryngologist can see a person for a number of ear, nose, and throat issues, as well as thyroid issues. From
nose and ear issues due to allergies, to objects being stuck in the ear, Dr.
Hensler covers it all. I was also
curious to talk to Dr. Hensler about ear tubes. My daughter, Penelope, has ear
tubes and I was wondered if having ear tubes at a young age would affect her
hearing long term. Dr. Hensler took the
time to tell me how beneficial ear tubes are to kids with many ear infections.
I really enjoyed my
conversation with Dr. Hensler and Dora. Check
out the video above to see what I learned!
Looking for an ENT physician or think you might need a hearing screening? Learn more about our audiology services for the whole family!