On “Spotlight Chicago,” hosts Sarah Jindra and Ji Suk Yi talk about how to protect your ears during loud summer events in Chicago, with their guest Dr. Sreek Cherukuri.
They explain that concerts and sports games can be very loud and hurt your hearing.
Dr. Cherukuri mentions that indoor concerts can be even louder than outdoor ones because the sound bounces around inside.
He says it’s important to use ear protection, especially for kids, and suggests simple earplugs that you can buy at any drugstore.
Earplugs can help prevent damage from loud noises like concerts, fireworks, and even cheering at baseball games.
Dr. Cherukuri also talks about how to tell if your hearing is damaged, like if your ears are ringing after being at a loud event. If the ringing lasts until the next day, you should see a doctor.
For older adults, Dr. Cherukuri introduces a new hearing device called ClearCast, which helps them hear conversations and the TV better.
These earphones have a microphone and amplifier that make sounds louder and clearer.
This device can be especially helpful for family gatherings so that everyone can be part of the conversation.
Transcript
You’re watching Spotlight Chicago presented by UI Health with Sarah Jindra and Ji Suk Yi.
Ji Suk Yi: Concerts and sports events are an exciting part of the warm season in Chicago, but standing near loudspeakers and roaring crowds could be detrimental to your hearing. I know this personally actually.
Sarah Jindra: Oh my gosh, me too. There are plenty of ways to protect your ears this summer and signs to look for if your loved ones have suffered any hearing loss Sreek Cherukuri joins us with tips to keep you safe.
Doctor, thank you so much for being here. Let’s, let’s talk about some of these. We’ve been focusing lately on concerts and ballgames, so why don’t we start with concerts and the difference between an outdoor concert and an indoor concert, or are they all generally troubling?
Dr Sreek Cherukuri: So, obviously, we all love Chicago summers, but some of the things we do can get very loud and noise can cause permanent, irreversible injuries.
Damage to our hearing. So things to think about. Lawnmowers, get up to about a hundred decibels.
Ji Suk Yi: Mm-Hmm.
Dr Sreek Cherukuri: concerts. You mentioned indoor is even louder than outdoor. ’cause it’s contained and it reflects up to 125 decibels. Fireworks up to 140. Even a baseball game, 110 when they’re really cheering.
Ji Suk Yi: Yeah.
Here’s the, I wasn’t you bring that up because that’s the thing. Like you think that it has to be. Super loud for it to be potentially damaging, but it doesn’t really have to be. It’s like very everyday kind of
Dr Sreek Cherukuri: sneak up on you. It is loud, but you’re just in the heat of the moment. You don’t even notice it, but if you ever left and your ears are ringing, that is a sign that it was
Ji Suk Yi: and I’m guessing to depending on your age to like you’re more susceptible,
Dr Sreek Cherukuri: especially younger ones. Like the ear canals are smaller, so the actual sound pressure gets much higher. So if you go to any of these events with young ones, We strongly recommend ear protection.
Sarah Jindra: Alright, so what kind of ear protection? I know a lot of young kids, parents have the little, the ear moths, you know, what they call them on their kids.
Those, you know, those headphones. What about adults?
Dr Sreek Cherukuri: Yeah, so a couple things. There are apps on your phone that are free that give you sound pressure level meters. So that’s one thing you could do if you wanted to just get a sense. But really, the easiest thing is earplugs. You can buy them at any drug store.
You get like 50 pairs for the smushy
Sarah Jindra: kind, right? The smushy kind, yeah. We have an
Dr Sreek Cherukuri: example here for you guys. But yeah, that’s the easiest thing to do. You know, Lollapalooza gets very loud. I was there last year, and someone actually handed me a pair of earplugs. I was like, oh my god, how did I forget earplugs?
Sarah Jindra: So even though it’s outdoors, you should have earplugs at Lollapalooza.
Dr Sreek Cherukuri: Definitely, like, obviously the closer you get. But really, listen to your body. If you feel like it’s too loud or your ears are ringing, That’s a problem. You should get farther away and distance does help.
Ji Suk Yi: So I’m guessing when you were at Lala, you weren’t one of the people that went straight down to the stage, right in front of the speaker.
Dr Sreek Cherukuri: I used to be that person and now I have permanent damage in my left ear. So you do. Yeah, it’s really not great.
Sarah Jindra: We do a question. I was gonna say, how do you know when, okay, obviously you leave a concert, you leave a show, your ears are ringing, but if it continues to like say the next day or the next day, that’s not good.
Dr Sreek Cherukuri: Yeah. So it’s temporary. Uh, you, you, got away with it. It’s called a temporary threshold shift and it’s reversible. But if you’re ringing the next day, you should see an ENT or an audiologist as soon as possible to see what can be done. Unfortunately, a lot of times it is permanent.
Ji Suk Yi: Okay. I was going to say once it does happen, is it reversible in any way?
Dr Sreek Cherukuri: If it’s, if it’s lasting for a couple of days, you might be out of luck. There are some medicines and things in trials, but no strong recommendations for that.
Ji Suk Yi: Okay. Well, you also mentioned, I mean, it’s not just young kids and children that we have to worry about. It’s also, um, you know, people that are a little bit older and wiser, right?
Dr Sreek Cherukuri: That’s right. So summertime is often a time for extended family gatherings. And I’d like to take this opportunity to talk about how we can help some of our senior family members that may have trouble hearing.
Ji Suk Yi: Okay.
Dr Sreek Cherukuri: And it’s certainly in my family. I have a few people that we have to speak up or repeat or the TV’s on too loud.
And everyone’s familiar with hearing aids, but that’s a whole different conversation to have. Yeah. We now
Ji Suk Yi: difficult conversation.
Dr Sreek Cherukuri: We are now recommending this new FDA registered Conversation Amplifying Earphones, they’re called ClearCast, and you simply, you simply wear them
around your neck, kind of like the headphones we used to wear before AirPods.
Right. There’s earbuds you put in your ear, and it has a microphone and an amplifier in it, and you can suddenly boost the conversation. And so the elderly family members that may be tuning out can now tune in.
Ji Suk Yi: Wait, you have these around. Have you used them? They actually work?
Dr Sreek Cherukuri: I use them. They work great.
There’s actually a second thing. There’s a wireless microphone you can use and place next to the TV or anywhere you want, center of a dinner table, and you can hear what’s being spoken really clearly.
Ji Suk Yi: And they look cool, too. I have a few people that I can try to sneak this on. I know you do, too. I was going to say, I would probably be that person.
No, no, no. Alright, well, thank you so much for all this information. Just head to clearcasthearing. com for more information.