Dear Nathan, et al.

Its not quite all hooey.

Without going much into the merits of this "study," I would like to
point out that exposure to loud noise leads to cumulative damage.  There
is temporary hearing loss that clears up, like when you attend something
excessively loud and notice things are muffled right afterward but seem
fine the next day, but there is also a cumulative effect that may not
show up for many years.

The actual sound receptors are tiny hair cells toped by bundles of cilia
which waft back and forth in the fluid medium of the cochlear duct
(scala intermedia) of the inner ear.  Very loud sounds increase the size
of the movements.  Now, as an analogy, take a paper clip, open it up
then start bending it back and forth.  You can use large movements or
small.  Eventually metal fatigue sets in and it snaps.  If you stop
before it snaps, then do it again, you will discover the metal hasn't
recovered from its rest.  Its not a perfect analogy, but it works.  Over
a long time period of excessive noise those hair cells start to break.
You only have about 3400 of them total that you use for sound reception
(the other 12,000 are used for tuning) and they are not repaired when
broken.  Broken hair cells are also the probable source of tinnitus,
often described as a ringing sound in the ears (i-Pod?  Why do I need an
i-Pod?  I hear bells all the time).

The end result is that you can be damaging your ears and hastening the
time when hearing loss gets serious while you are young and never know
it.  I'm 62 and starting to have significant hearing loss partly through
stupidity (no ear protection when riding motorcycle) and partly due to
being a pyrotechnician (working large fireworks displays) with less than
complete ear protection.   Knowing all this stuff professionally
beforehand (I teach about this stuff in my neuropsychology course)
didn't protect me from my own stupidities.  Having some pedant lecture
you on the topic probably won't do much for you, either.  BUT, it would
be a good idea to wear ear protection to loud sporting events. 

Tom Rowe

-----Original Message-----
From: - Hockey-L - The College Hockey Discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Hampton, Nathan E.
Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 9:38 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: "Can hockey playoffs harm your hearing?"

Lindsay Huntoon is absolutely right about this study --- WHAT???? It is
full of mistakes, and its conclusion is almost laughable.

<snipped for brevity >

 Standards have been defined for maximum allowable daily noise doses,2
and an average level of 85 dB A for 8 hours is generally considered the
maximum allowable daily noise dose." But then the author grabs the
following out of his hat, or other part of his anatomy, that "For each 3
dB increase in average noise level, the time you can safely stay at a
level is halved. Thus, at 88 dB, it would take only 4 hours to reach the
maximum allowable daily noise dose, at 91 dB it would take only 2 hours,
and so on." Given that the basis is 85dB, a 3dB increase is 3.5%
increase and this 3.5% increase creates a half life of from 8 hours to 4
hours in exposure? Bull.
(4) Then it is reported that "Pure-tone audiometric data indicated that
the hearing thresholds of both subjects deteriorated by 5 to 10 dB for
most frequencies. ... Whereas 5 to 10 dB may be within the test-retest
confidence limits of pure-tone audiometry... It is important to note
that this temporary threshold shift usually disappears in a day or two."
Which means they discovered nothing of consequence but reported it
anyway based on one game's testing, and used the rest of the money for
the research to attend two additional games. What a deal!!!

No wonder society does not want doctors to advertise, because their
reporting of research is such garbage. 

Nathan Hampton


-----Original Message-----
From: - Hockey-L - The College Hockey Discussion List on behalf of
Lindsay Huntoon
Sent: Wed 12/13/2006 7:18 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: "Can hockey playoffs harm your hearing?"
 
WHAT???????

Indy Rutks wrote:

> Another academic study that may be of interest to hockey fans:
>
> http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/175/12/1541
>
>
> -Indy
>

--
Lindsay A. Huntoon
Let's Go Maine Black Bears
www.sudsandsports.blogspot.com