Loading summary
Transcript468 lines
- [00:00]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Some tech presents the ins and outs of caring for your home. Out Uncertainty Self doubt stressing about not knowing where to start In Plans and guides that make it easy to get home projects done Out Word art Sorry. Live laugh lovers in knowing what to do, when to do it, and who to hire. Start caring for your home with confidence. Download thumbtack today.
- [00:26]
Noah Michaelson
Are you still quoting 30 year old movies? Have you said cool beans in the past 90 days? Do you still think Discover isn't widely accepted? If this sounds like you, you're stuck in the past. Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide. And every time you make a purchase with your card, you automatically earn cash back. Welcome to the now it pays to Discover. Learn more@discover.com credit card Based on the February 2024 Nielsen report.
- [00:57]
Dr. Craig Casper
Today'S episode is sponsored by eHarmony, the dating app to find someone you can be yourself with.
- [01:03]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Noah One thing that my friends who are on the apps constantly complain about is getting terribly unoriginal first messages from people. It's such an awful first impression to come out the gate swinging with some cheesy pickup line.
- [01:15]
Dr. Craig Casper
Ugh. Absolutely. I completely remember when I was on the apps. Most of my conversations were so boring, but it's hard not to be right. That's where our sponsor, eHarmony comes in. Their compatibility quiz helps bring out people's personalities on their profiles. They highlight similarities you have with potential matches so you have a better jumping off point for conversation. It's so much better than just what's up.
- [01:41]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Yup. Plus, eHarmony disables copy and paste for first messages so you can get better messages that lead to stronger connections.
- [01:49]
Dr. Craig Casper
And eHarmony makes it easier to have better conversations. So you're already one step ahead when it comes to meeting someone who gets you.
- [01:57]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
So why not give eHarmony a shot? Take their personality quiz to get started today.
- [02:02]
Dr. Craig Casper
It's 2025. It's all about simplifying your dating life. No more boring conversations.
- [02:08]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Amen. Get who gets you on eHarmony? Sign up today. Hi, I'm Raj Panjabi Johnson, head of identity content at HuffPost.
- [02:21]
Dr. Craig Casper
And I'm Noah Michaelson, head of HuffPost Personal.
- [02:24]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Welcome to Am I Doing It Wrong? The show that explores the all too human anxieties we have about trying to get our lives right.
- [02:30]
Dr. Craig Casper
All right, Raj, so have you been preventing hearing loss wrong?
- [02:36]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
You know, I'm pretty sure I've been doing it wrong.
- [02:40]
Dr. Craig Casper
Okay.
- [02:40]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Because I haven't thought much about that. Yeah, but when we Decided to do this episode on hearing loss. I realized that I listened to music. Music really loud, you know, in my apartment and on my headphones, like, just jacking the volume up and really enjoying myself.
- [02:55]
Dr. Craig Casper
It sounds so good.
- [02:57]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
It sounds amazing. You hear everything really crisply. And now I'm like, oh, like, am I putting myself in danger? Am I already experiencing a little bit of hearing loss? So, yeah, I need to know some things. What about you?
- [03:08]
Dr. Craig Casper
I have some friends and family who recently have been diagnosed with some hearing loss. I didn't really think about it before that.
- [03:14]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Yeah.
- [03:14]
Dr. Craig Casper
And now, same thing. I'm kind of like, huh, Should I be worried?
- [03:18]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Yeah. I mean, add it to the bundle of things we're worried about.
- [03:20]
Dr. Craig Casper
Always.
- [03:21]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Yeah.
- [03:21]
Dr. Craig Casper
So I have some questions, and luckily we have Dr. Craig Casper. He is an audiologist who founded New York Hearing Doctors, and he's been working in hearing healthcare for almost 30 years.
- [03:32]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Let's get it. Dr. Craig.
- [03:45]
Dr. Craig Casper
Craig, welcome. Thanks for being here.
- [03:47]
Unknown
I appreciate it. This is awesome.
- [03:48]
Dr. Craig Casper
To start, let's just get right to it. Why does hearing loss happen? Is it always something a response to external conditions, or can it be genetic? Can it be other things? Give us the lay of the land.
- [04:01]
Unknown
So when it comes to hearing loss, there's a number of different factors that we have to take into consideration. The first is genetics. Genetics play a role in everything from a health perspective for us. So it's really hard for us to kind of just forget about the genetic part of the equation. We know that there's babies that are born with severe, profound hearing loss, and that's a direct result of some sort of a genetic mutation abnormality. For all of us that plays a role, there's no doubt. But there's so many other things that can contribute to hearing loss. Things like noise exposure, which is really the number one preventable cause of hearing loss.
- [04:31]
Dr. Craig Casper
Right.
- [04:31]
Unknown
So power tools, concerts, motorcycles, even. Questionable. I'm sure we'll get into the concept of a noisy city in terms of what that does for our hearing as well. But noise exposure, number one preventable cause of hearing loss, then we have medications that play a role as well. Most medications are fine, but there are certain medications that can cause some damage to our hearing system. On the very extreme end, some of the chemotherapeutic drugs for cancer are known to be what's called ototoxic, which ototoxic just means toxic to your ears. High doses of aspirin can actually cause hearing loss as well. Certain drugs, and we won't see it that much. In a place like New York. But malaria drugs like quinine can cause hearing loss as well. So we have to be mindful of the medications that we're taking. Chronic illnesses such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, put us at a higher risk for hearing loss versus our non diabetic and non hypertensive peers. Okay, so that's something to keep in mind as well. And then there's the elements of kind of things that we're exposed to in our environment. Perhaps even occupational things. Certain solvents can cause hearing loss as well.
- [05:38]
Dr. Craig Casper
Right, I was reading about that. Yeah.
- [05:40]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Wait, can you tell me a little more about that? Like just things we use to clean the house?
- [05:43]
Unknown
I wouldn't be too concerned about that necessarily, but there are studies, if you take a look at people who work in paint factories.
- [05:48]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Okay, so like to exposure.
- [05:50]
Unknown
Exactly. So all of these things come together. So general health related things, as well as external environmental factors as well as genetics, they all kind of interplay to lead to potential for hearing loss.
- [06:04]
Dr. Craig Casper
Okay, this is a very dumb question to follow up, but what is actually happening when we have hearing loss? Is there a part of our ear that is actually being damaged?
- [06:11]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Peeling off?
- [06:12]
Unknown
Yeah.
- [06:13]
Dr. Craig Casper
Or is it something else? Like I'm trying to visualize what's actually happening.
- [06:16]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
That's not a dumb question.
- [06:18]
Unknown
I think it's a great question because anatomy can kind of be, be fuzzy for a lot of us.
- [06:22]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Right.
- [06:22]
Unknown
So when it comes to the hearing structure, there's actually a, a series of different parts that work together in order for us to actually hear sound. So the first part is the obvious. We see this thing on the side of our, our head. This is basically just a funnel that collects sound from the environment and it funnels it down into the ear canal. So when you hit the ear canal, that's the first place where hearing loss might actually occur. And the reason is if you have a complete blockage of earwax, which serves like an earplug, that can cause some hearing loss. Now the good thing with wax blockage, or cerumen as it's medically called, that can be removed. That's easy stuff to fix.
- [06:57]
Dr. Craig Casper
Okay.
- [06:58]
Unknown
Go a little further down the ear canal. At the very end of the ear canal, you have the eardrum, which is essentially just three layers of skin that just vibrates back and forth when the sound waves bounce on the eardrum. Anything that would prevent the eardrum from moving, whether it's scar tissue or behind the eardrum, we have what's called the middle ear space. We'll talk a little bit about this in a second because I'm sure you'll. Actually, we can talk about it now. So if you come down in an airplane and your ears are clogged. Right?
- [07:24]
Dr. Craig Casper
Right.
- [07:24]
Unknown
And then you chew gum or you yawn and you pop your ears, there's a little tube that goes from the back of your nose to the middle ear that place right behind the eardrum. That's called the eustachian tube. The purpose of that tube is just to equalize pressure on both sides of the eardrum. So if you have sinus problems, allergies, a cold, that eustachian tube might not function properly, cause some blockage, you can get some congestion behind the eardrum that can result in some hearing loss. Again, temporary. There's the three smallest bones in the body that are found in that space. Also the hammer, the anvil, the stirrup you might have learned in school years.
- [08:01]
Dr. Craig Casper
Ago, or the operation game. I'm thinking of.
- [08:03]
Unknown
Perfect.
- [08:04]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yeah.
- [08:04]
Unknown
Those are the worst bones because they're the smallest.
- [08:06]
Dr. Craig Casper
Right.
- [08:07]
Unknown
So if there's a problem with those bones, that can cause a hearing loss as well. Now, everything that I just described typically results in what's called a conductive hearing loss. That's just a type of hearing loss, which means there is a problem with the conduction of sound through a part of the system.
- [08:22]
Dr. Craig Casper
Okay.
- [08:22]
Unknown
It's usually mechanical.
- [08:23]
Dr. Craig Casper
Right.
- [08:24]
Unknown
All of those things, for the most part, medically treatable. That only represents about 95% of hearing loss that we see, though. The third part of the ear looks like a snail. It's called the cochlea, or the inner ear. It's basically the size of a green pea. And it's a pretty remarkable thing because inside the cochlea, you have tens of thousands of these microscopic hair cells. Those hair cells ultimately are connected to nerves that send the information to the brain. But what happens for all of us is those hair cells, over time, become damaged again. Direct result of noise exposure, genetics, all the things we kind of pointed medications, high fevers, cholesterol, viruses. Covid's been a big thing in recent years. We've seen a lot of COVID related hearing loss. And if the hair cells are damaged, there's no mechanism to pick up the sound and then transmit it through the nerve up to the hearing parts of the brain. That's where we actually hear sound. So if I touch a hot stove. Right. The finger feels the pain? Not really. It's actually that part of my brain that feels the pain.
- [09:29]
Dr. Craig Casper
Right.
- [09:30]
Unknown
If I'm looking At a beautiful sunset, the eyes pick up the information transmitted to the visual centers of the brain.
- [09:36]
Dr. Craig Casper
Right.
- [09:36]
Unknown
All of the things I just described from an ear perspective, just transmit the information to the hearing parts of the brain. That's where we actually hear sound. So the part with the hair cells, the nerve, the brain, if there's an issue along that part of the system, that results in what's called a sensory, neural, hearing loss. Sensory. The hair cells neural. The nerve.
- [09:57]
Dr. Craig Casper
Right.
- [09:58]
Unknown
That's not something that's typically medically treatable. And that's what affects about 95% of us as we go through life, usually gradually over time, sometimes suddenly, if there's an insult of some sort.
- [10:07]
Dr. Craig Casper
Right. You can't do it like a transplant of those hairs. Obviously, there's no one's. They're damaged. They're damaged.
- [10:12]
Unknown
Yeah. There's definitely no real gain for those hair cells.
- [10:15]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
No trip to Turkey for a transplant.
- [10:17]
Unknown
Yeah, there you go. No, definitely not. Although such an interesting thing, though, because I was in Buffalo for grad school and I was really lucky to work with some amazing neuroscientists up there doing some crazy research on the brain and also on these inner ear hair cells and the whole nervous system. One of the parts of the lab they were working with. Chicken. Why are they working with chicken? And the coolest thing was that chicken can actually regenerate their hair cells. So birds can regenerate their hair cells. The key for us as researchers, and I'm not a researcher, but the key for the research community is how do you actually make that happen for mammals now, we're not quite there yet. That's why when everybody says hair cell regeneration, I've hear all these great studies. There are great studies, but we're not.
- [10:59]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Quite there yet in non human animals, I'm sure.
- [11:01]
Unknown
Correct. And there's some human studies and there's some really kind of niche stuff that's going on right now. But for the general public, we're not there yet.
- [11:08]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yeah.
- [11:09]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Ok. Can you just tell us a little bit about how stress can affect our hearing?
- [11:13]
Unknown
That's a really important question. Because we're all stressed out.
- [11:16]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Yeah.
- [11:16]
Unknown
I don't know if stress is a direct cause of hearing loss. Now, can stress impact our ability to communicate? So if we're in an environment that's noisy and we're stressed or group situations, processing can actually be impacted. So it's not just what we hear, it's what our brain does with the sound once it actually gets there. So it's kind of like processing Figure from ground. If I'm in a noisy environment, I have to pick up the person I'm listening to from all the nonsense that's going on. Yeah, a lot of people have difficulty with that. It's a processing issue. But when we're stressed, there's no doubt that our processing ability can be impacted totally. Stress becomes more of an issue for a related symptom of hearing loss, which is called tinnitus, ringing in the ears. That definitely has a massive impact in terms of how much that impacts the individual who's bothered by tinnitus. So I wouldn't say it impacts our hearing per se, Maybe some processing, but more on the tinnitus side of the equation.
- [12:13]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Okay, can you tell us a little bit more about that now? Cause I feel like I've recently spoken to some younger people who have it, and it sounds like a nightmare.
- [12:21]
Unknown
Yeah. So tinnitus is one of the most common things that we see in clinic. I've specialized in tinnitus for decades at this point. I've been exposed to a lot of loud noise throughout my life. I was a bass player as a kid, love concerts. Worked with tons of musicians throughout the years. Been front stage, backstage, side stage, all that. So a lot of noise exposure. I have worn hearing protection for the majority of it, which is critical. But tinnitus is something that is, at the end of the day, is a symptom of hearing loss for most people.
- [12:50]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Okay.
- [12:50]
Unknown
Basically what happens. And we talked a little bit about what happens when the system is disordered and we lose those hair cells. When we reduce input to the brain, the brain actually changes. So it's called brain plasticity. If I want to learn a new language, the way I get better at learning that language is repetition and practice. If I want to learn how to play piano, scales are usually how I start. And I just get better and better over time. My brain understands what to do, and what's essentially happening is you're literally forging connections in the brain and strengthening them with repetition. So that's positive brain plasticity. Negative brain plasticity is me forgetting how to do all that stuff because I'm not practicing. If I'm not using the language for six months a year, I'm rusty. And it takes me a little while to pick it up. But if I do it more, I'll get it back.
- [13:40]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Right.
- [13:41]
Unknown
Same thing happens with our sensory systems. So if I have some hearing loss, even if it's subtle, mild hearing loss, what I'm doing is I'm reducing the input to the Hearing centers of the brain. It's just not hearing as well as it should. The shortest version I can give you, without getting too deep into the science to make it. Make it make sense, is that when the brain realizes that it's not getting input from the auditory system, it literally jacks up its internal amplifier. So I don't know if you guys ever watch Spinal Tap. So the movie Spinal Tap, the biggest joke in the movie was the amps go up to 11. They're the loudest amps on the planet. Right. So if you crank up your internal amplifier because the brain is searching for this sound, if you turn on an amplifier, turn it up full blast with nothing attached, that amp will make a speaker hum, right? It'll hum. That's essentially what the brain is doing when you hear.
- [14:30]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Wow, that's a great metaphor.
- [14:32]
Unknown
So your brain turns up the. The internal amplifiers, creates this phantom auditory perception, and as a result, we perceive this normal, benign symptom of hearing loss. Now, I say benign, and that's for the vast majority of people. Because if you put anybody in a quiet enough room, they're going to hear body noises. They're going to pay attention to their heartbeat, they're going to pay attention to their breathing, their digestion. It's all normal stuff. But because the brain perceives that stuff as benign, not a threat, it pushes it into the background of awareness. Like your bottom on the chair. As soon as the brain perceives something as a threat, like if you're on the subway in New York at midnight by yourself, and there's a strange character at the end of the car, you're kind of using your peripheral vision to check in periodically. Yeah, that's what happens with this noise in our head that has been there. There's typically some sort of a stress event. Lost a loved one, lost a job, got sick. Covid happens. Everybody's stressed. All of a sudden, another part of our brain gets lit up. It's called the limbic system, the emotional centers of the brain. All of a sudden, we start paying attention to the tinnitus. The limbic system notices that we get more stressed, we pay more attention. And then because the brain is plastic, meaning it learns stuff.
- [15:47]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Yeah.
- [15:48]
Unknown
Now we've gotten really good at paying attention to this benign, normal thing, and it becomes a problem for us. So that's the short version of the tinnitus story.
- [15:55]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
No, it's helpful. Yeah.
- [15:56]
Dr. Craig Casper
But some people just won't experience it. They'll just experience not being able to hear as well.
- [16:00]
Unknown
That's correct. So not everybody that has hearing loss has tinnitus.
- [16:03]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yep.
- [16:04]
Unknown
And not everybody that has tinnitus has clinically relevant hearing loss.
- [16:08]
Dr. Craig Casper
Interesting.
- [16:09]
Unknown
Tinnitus is a neurological phenomenon that's a symptom of something.
- [16:12]
Dr. Craig Casper
Okay.
- [16:13]
Unknown
More likely than not, it's a symptom of some changes that have occurred to the hearing system.
- [16:16]
Dr. Craig Casper
Got it.
- [16:17]
Unknown
Even subtle changes to the hearing system.
- [16:19]
Dr. Craig Casper
Wow. I knew none of this.
- [16:21]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Literally, I didn't need this. Let's get into a little bit more of what can contribute to hearing loss. Annie asks, how much does living in a loud city contribute to hearing loss? We talked a little bit about this.
- [16:32]
Dr. Craig Casper
But yeah, just being around, like, traffic, construction, sirens.
- [16:36]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
So much construction.
- [16:37]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yeah, yeah. Is that a problem?
- [16:39]
Unknown
Look, there's scare tactics out there. I'm not the person who's gonna put fear into people, but I wanna educate. So I'm science based and also kind of real world evidence based. So if you take a look at a place like New York City or any really loud city, there's noise all over the place. But just because there's noise doesn't mean it's dangerous for our hearing. When it comes to any sort of noise exposure, there's two variables that are critical for us to consider. The first is how loud the noise is, and second, how long we're exposed to that noise. So there's a time constant there that's really important. If we take a look at very conservative standards that are used for things like the Occupational Safety Health Administration for people who work in noisy industries, the critical tipping point is an 85 decibel tipping point, which some might say a hairdryer.
- [17:32]
Dr. Craig Casper
Okay.
- [17:34]
Unknown
You are able to be exposed to that type of a noise continuously for eight hours straight without any concern that it's going to dab damage your hearing.
- [17:42]
Dr. Craig Casper
Wow.
- [17:43]
Unknown
Now, some people are more susceptible than others, so we have to keep that in mind. But for the general public, I would say that's a good reference point, is 85 decibels. And for every five decibel increase, we literally reduce our safe time in half. So there's a formula for this.
- [17:58]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Got it.
- [17:58]
Unknown
Okay.
- [17:59]
Dr. Craig Casper
Interesting.
- [18:00]
Unknown
Really interesting. Studies were done by Columbia Mailman School of Public Health. They've done a lot of kind of noise studies in New York City. They looked at noise measurements on the subways, the buses, the path, trains, streets, et cetera. And what they found is that the vast majority of places in New York are not really getting to the level where they're dangerous to your hearing.
- [18:20]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Yeah. And it's not like long periods of time you're hearing.
- [18:23]
Unknown
That's the point. Yeah, yeah. So you're not standing at a screen. Now, granted, there are some places where the screeching of its subway station, really loud echoey in those kind of tunnels. Right.
- [18:32]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yeah.
- [18:33]
Unknown
The best thing to do is literally just stick your fingers in your ears for that period of time.
- [18:36]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Yeah.
- [18:37]
Unknown
But you're not exposed to that for five hours, six hours.
- [18:39]
Dr. Craig Casper
Right.
- [18:40]
Unknown
So for the most part, we're. We're fine in those environments.
- [18:43]
Dr. Craig Casper
Is it cumulative at all, though? Let's say. Let's say you're getting 85 decibels for eight hours a day. If you stop, does it. Does the clock restart? Or if you're doing that every single day, is it going to start to build up and then actually take a toll?
- [18:57]
Unknown
Yeah, look, there's wear and tear on all of our systems. But what I would say from a pure kind of noise research perspective, what we know is even if you go to a concert or if you're a musician and you're exposed to some noise, just taking a 10, 15 minute break doesn't reset the clock. The clock completely for that time, but it definitely gives your ears enough of a respite where you can jump back in and have a longer period of time.
- [19:18]
Dr. Craig Casper
Got it.
- [19:19]
Unknown
Now, I am a big advocate for hearing protection. There's a lot of great options.
- [19:22]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yeah.
- [19:23]
Unknown
So best thing to do is just protect our hearing because as we said, it's the number one cause, preventable cause of hearing loss, noise exposure.
- [19:30]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Okay, let's take a quick break. Break. And we'll be right back. This episode is sponsored by Better Help.
- [19:37]
Dr. Craig Casper
It's a new year and a new opportunity to start fresh. What do you want your 2025 story to be?
- [19:44]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Maybe you're itching for an exciting plot twist or feel like you're due for some interesting character development.
- [19:50]
Dr. Craig Casper
We're not talking about resolutions that will fade by February. This is about picking up the pen and becoming the author of your own life.
- [19:58]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
And you can think of therapy as your editorial partner, helping you write new chapters and create a meaningful story.
- [20:04]
Dr. Craig Casper
We are huge proponents of therapy on this show. You've heard us talk about how beneficial it's been for us in so many ways.
- [20:11]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
That's right. Therapy can help you work through issues that may be holding you back and empower you to be the best version of yourself.
- [20:18]
Dr. Craig Casper
BetterHelp is fully online, making therapy affordable and convenient. Serving over 5 million people worldwide, you.
- [20:26]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Can access a diverse network of more than 30,000 credentialed therapists with a wide range of specialties.
- [20:32]
Dr. Craig Casper
Write your story with better help. Visit betterhelp.com doingitwrong to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp H-E-L-P.com doingitwrong I don't know.
- [20:46]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
About you Noah, but when it comes to winter, it feels like it's survival of the fittest out there. I need to do whatever I can.
- [20:52]
Dr. Craig Casper
To stay cozy totally all winter long. I have on my plushest slippers with a hot beverage in my hand just to stay functional.
- [21:00]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Love that. Well, for the ultimate cold weather necessities made from premium materials, you've got to check out Quince. With Quince, you can treat yourself to true quality at an affordable price, something.
- [21:11]
Dr. Craig Casper
Everyone needs in their closet. Quince's iconic Mongolian cashmere sweaters, which start.
- [21:16]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
At $50 and their wind resistant responsible down jackets are perfect for keeping warm.
- [21:22]
Dr. Craig Casper
And snuggly no matter what you're looking for. All Quint's Items are priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands, and by partnering directly with top factories and cutting out the cost of the middleman, Quint's passes the savings on to you.
- [21:37]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Quint's only works with factories that use safe, ethical and responsible manufacturing practices, and they use premium fabrics and finishes for that luxury feel in every piece.
- [21:48]
Dr. Craig Casper
Just looking at all the cozy sweaters on their website is already warming me up and I'm actually wearing the one I bought a few months ago. Right now I can't wait for my next shipment of luxurious sweaters and scarves to arrive so I can start doing winter right.
- [22:02]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
You deserve that Noah.
- [22:03]
Dr. Craig Casper
Thank you.
- [22:04]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Luxuriate in coziness without the luxury price tag. Go to quince.com wrong for 365 day returns plus free shipping on your order. That's Q U I n c e.com wrong to get free shipping and and 365 day returns quince.com wrong.
- [22:28]
Unknown
When the energy is high and the music is right, pushing past your limits becomes that much easier. Take a reggaeton run or strength class on the Peloton Tread and you'll quickly see why these are the workouts you've been searching for. Every day brings new challenges from expert coaches who train and speak the same language as you do. Level up your workouts with Peloton Tread. Find your push, find your power. Peloton visit1peloton.com.
- [23:05]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Welcome back to Am I Doing It Wrong?
- [23:09]
Dr. Craig Casper
Let's get into a lot of that. How do we mitigate some of these issues to Start. You just said if. If you're by a subway or fire trucks going by, put your fingers in your ears. How much protection is just doing that offering?
- [23:21]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
I do that actually.
- [23:22]
Dr. Craig Casper
I do too.
- [23:23]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Like emergency. What are they called? Ambulances when they go by? Those things are allowed. Like, I just do this. Yeah.
- [23:28]
Dr. Craig Casper
But I have no idea whether or not that's actually doing.
- [23:30]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
I just do it for the comfort. Yeah.
- [23:32]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yeah.
- [23:33]
Unknown
Well, that's an important thing. Also, some people have sound sensitivity issues when they do that. And it totally makes sense. Just putting your fingers in your ears is totally protecting you for that. I wouldn't worry about that at all. Unless there is an explosion next to you.
- [23:45]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Right.
- [23:45]
Unknown
That's a totally different type of a situation. But for your run of the mill sirens, ambulance driving by, et cetera. Subway rolling into the station, bus screeching. Especially during the winter with assault on the roads. Their brakes squeak. Just put your fingers in your ears when they approach the station and you'll be totally fine.
- [24:03]
Dr. Craig Casper
Would you actually recommend that though, as opposed to not doing anything?
- [24:07]
Unknown
I always do it.
- [24:08]
Dr. Craig Casper
Okay.
- [24:08]
Unknown
And maybe it's just because I'm super aware. Yeah. I think that anything that we can do. And I don't want to drive people crazy with, you know, prevention really matters. Don't get me wrong. But I don't want people to be completely psycho about the fact that they have to like stick their fingers in their ear every time a baby cries in the environment.
- [24:24]
Dr. Craig Casper
Right.
- [24:24]
Unknown
That's not the.
- [24:25]
Dr. Craig Casper
That's okay.
- [24:26]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Okay.
- [24:26]
Unknown
Just to be mindful of it. And if you remember, it's a good practice. It's good practice.
- [24:30]
Dr. Craig Casper
Okay.
- [24:30]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
I walk around the city, you know, I try to not do it when I'm crossing the streets and things like that, but I love noise canceling headphones and I love listening to like Sza and just like her voice is so loud. And it's just for me. Is that damaging my ears in any way?
- [24:46]
Unknown
Yeah. This is a great conversation. This conversation really started and I think before we started to roll, we started to talk a little bit about Walkman back in the. In the 80s. But the conversation was reignited when the first apple I pod came out.
- [25:00]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yeah.
- [25:00]
Unknown
And then all of a sudden everybody's freaked out about people losing hearing. Yeah. Which. Great. Love the conversation. It's important to have the conversation. There's a couple of variables that we have to consider here as well. Noise exposure. The headphone doesn't matter.
- [25:14]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Okay.
- [25:15]
Unknown
So if you have an in earbud versus an over earbud, over ear Headphone, it doesn't matter at all. What matters is how loud it is and how long you're exposed to right now. There are some benefits, though, to sound isolating versus noise reduction. And I'll give you the differentiator. So sound isolating is if you have something that completely plugs up the ear and all you hear is the music and it's physically isolating you from the outside world.
- [25:43]
Dr. Craig Casper
Right.
- [25:43]
Unknown
Those are great because. And I've used those for years, musicians will use them on stage. They're called in ear monitors.
- [25:49]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yeah.
- [25:49]
Unknown
So it really kind of isolates you from the outside environment and so you.
- [25:53]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Don'T have to crank it up all the way.
- [25:55]
Dr. Craig Casper
Correct.
- [25:55]
Unknown
You're not competing with the train noise, the street noise, etc.
- [25:58]
Dr. Craig Casper
Right.
- [25:59]
Unknown
The problem with that is that you are isolated.
- [26:01]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Yeah.
- [26:02]
Unknown
And especially if you're by yourself or you're walking around the city, you need to be aware of what's going on. How many times do you see somebody crossing the street, they're on their phone, their headphones, and they're almost getting crushed by a cab.
- [26:12]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yeah.
- [26:13]
Unknown
So that's really the. The caveat there. Just be careful.
- [26:16]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Yeah.
- [26:17]
Unknown
The noise cancellation headphones are really interesting because what they do is it's an electronic cancellation of the low frequencies, which are typically where like airplane noise might be or street hum and things like that. The outcome is lower your volume as well because you don't have to compete with outside noises as much.
- [26:35]
Dr. Craig Casper
Right.
- [26:36]
Unknown
That's a great thing as well, because anything that's going to allow you to drop your volume, not compete, is going to give you longer time under headphones and also save your ears at that point too. So interesting.
- [26:46]
Dr. Craig Casper
Is there a volume that we shouldn't go above? I mean, is there like a. You know, you can draw a line in the sand and say, it shouldn't be any higher than this.
- [26:54]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
I've been. I said this to Noah last week that I'm starting to get nervous. Cause when I listen to music on any headphones, it's like almost. It's like two notches under the maximum. And I'm like, that's where I find it enjoyable.
- [27:04]
Dr. Craig Casper
I'm like, oh, see, I'm at like 15%. That's how low. I try and keep it because I freak out about it. So I don't even. I'm not even at the halfway point because I'm just like. I don't want to go there.
- [27:16]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
I'm scared.
- [27:16]
Unknown
I think it's a really important question to ask. And there's. There's the element of comfort.
- [27:20]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Yeah.
- [27:20]
Unknown
Music sounds good loud.
- [27:22]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
It sounds good.
- [27:23]
Dr. Craig Casper
So much fun.
- [27:24]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
I get it done.
- [27:25]
Unknown
Yeah, it sounds great loud. And I'm guilty. I love my music. And here's what I would say though, is that the best research we have was a buddy of mine up in Boston. So during this time when the ipods came out and everybody's freaking out about noise, sound isolation versus in ear, all the. All the different headphones that were out there, he actually did some measurements in the ear canals with microphones of the output of these headphones. The long and the short of it is if you take a look and it might have changed a little bit based on the output of the current kind of iPhones, ipods. But I think it's a good rule of thumb, if you're at 65% of your volume and lower, you're pretty much good all day long.
- [28:05]
Dr. Craig Casper
Okay.
- [28:06]
Unknown
The more you get up into those upper ranges, one song at that level is fine. But once you start listening for hours at that level, then you're going to encounter some issues.
- [28:16]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Okay, that's a great. Those are great measures, though, because I'm not usually listening for more than like 20 minutes.
- [28:21]
Dr. Craig Casper
Right.
- [28:22]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Okay, that's good to know.
- [28:23]
Unknown
I'd still probably drop your volume a little bit.
- [28:25]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
It's just. Why is everything I love not good for me? Martinis, bacon, and really loud music?
- [28:34]
Unknown
Bacon's really good.
- [28:35]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Yes, it is.
- [28:36]
Dr. Craig Casper
Okay, so Monica's asking what happens if you use noise canceling headphones all the time? I don't think this is good for us, but I would love an expert to weigh in. Is noise canceling in general bad for us or. No? You're saying it's a good thing?
- [28:50]
Unknown
I don't think that there's any. There's not. Like there's some emission coming from the headphones.
- [28:55]
Dr. Craig Casper
Right.
- [28:55]
Unknown
And there's. There's debates out there about cell phones and all this stuff. I will never touch that because I have no idea.
- [29:01]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yeah. But in terms of purely hearing, but.
- [29:03]
Unknown
From the headphone perspective, I think noise canceling headphones are great, especially if you're in noisy environments.
- [29:09]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yeah.
- [29:09]
Unknown
It just allows you to listen at lower levels as a result, protecting your hearing. So.
- [29:14]
Dr. Craig Casper
Okay, that's. That makes sense.
- [29:15]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Okay, talk to me about earplugs. Should we be wearing them? When should we be wearing them? And what are the best ones?
- [29:22]
Unknown
The best ones. I'll start with that. So for someone like me, goes to a lot of concerts, I want to be able to hear the music clearly. I just Want to be in a safer, safer range in terms of the volume. Wearing kind of foam roll up earplugs that you can get in the drugstore are great if you're using power tools or, you know, something where you don't need to hear clearly.
- [29:42]
Dr. Craig Casper
Right, right.
- [29:43]
Unknown
But for music we have filtered earplugs that have been around for decades at this point that literally allow you to hear exactly what's going on. It just literally drops the volume level.
- [29:53]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
That's genius.
- [29:54]
Unknown
And they're passive. These aren't electronic. And there are some electronic versions of earplugs too, but you don't need to go into the super expensive stuff. You can go on Amazon and there's a. And I can give you a name, which is easy. They're like less than 20 bucks. They're called ER, 20s Etymotic Research. 20 decibel filters. They'll last as you take care of those. They'll last you for a bunch of shows. Load up on those and you're fine. When you go to the show. There's custom versions of that which requires someone going to a professional, make a silicone impression of the ear. And we can make a custom molded one. And they're soft, silicone, super nice and comfy. Yeah, those will last for a bunch of years. So I would start with those for anybody who's interested in hearing clearly, but just making sure that it's safe. Even dentists wear these. So if you have a dentist who's drilling all day long, or dental hygienists who are kind of with the power tools in your mouth all day long, we know that that actually causes hearing loss. It's an occupational hazard. So they wear those types of plugs as well. So you can get them in a generic form. You can get them in a custom form if you're completely at a loss. Foam roll ups are great. When you have nothing, tissues, toilet paper, anything else that's fuzzy, it's not gonna give you much hearing protection. It's just window dressing essentially. So if you're at a loud show and you stick toilet paper in your ears, chances are it's not gonna be doing much.
- [31:15]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
People are just gonna look at you funny.
- [31:16]
Unknown
Yeah.
- [31:17]
Dr. Craig Casper
What about if you were at a show and you didn't bring anything and you put your headphones in, Would that help? Like your AirPods.
- [31:23]
Unknown
That's a really, really good question. I think it really depends on the seal that you get.
- [31:27]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Right.
- [31:28]
Unknown
So those are notorious for. Not everybody's ear canals are different shapes.
- [31:31]
Dr. Craig Casper
Right.
- [31:32]
Unknown
And that's why I'm such a big fan of customer at the end of the day, because we know it fits you perfect and we know that the reduction that is advertised, you're getting.
- [31:39]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Yeah.
- [31:40]
Unknown
With generic, you're not 100% sure. And I think the same thing goes. Holds true for AirPods.
- [31:45]
Dr. Craig Casper
Okay.
- [31:45]
Unknown
You know, AirPods are really interesting because they've kind of. Apple just released this kind of OTC hearing aid version of.
- [31:51]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yeah.
- [31:51]
Unknown
And hearing tests, I think, is an awesome thing.
- [31:54]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Yeah.
- [31:54]
Unknown
Most audiologists might be threatened by this type of a tool.
- [31:57]
Dr. Craig Casper
Right.
- [31:58]
Unknown
I think it just draws awareness to people and they're hearing. We're here talking about it now and more people are going to learn about the importance testing your hearing. It's just normal health.
- [32:08]
Dr. Craig Casper
So I want to come back to hearing tests in a minute. But again, if you're going to a concert, are you saying every time you go you should wear earplugs? Let's say you go to two concerts a year and you're like, it's not that big of a deal. Is it a big deal?
- [32:20]
Unknown
It could be, yeah. Look, you can get, you can suffer noise induced hearing loss from one episode. So I'll give you an example.
- [32:28]
Dr. Craig Casper
Wow.
- [32:28]
Unknown
I've worked with a ton of musicians throughout the years, and they've had noise exposure. It's just an occupational hazard. You'll get musicians who were standing in front of an amp or a wedge, a monitor in front of them, and a bolt of feedback blasts through, and all of a sudden they have this high volume of sound that just is in their face. And they can suffer an immediate hearing loss as a result of that because there's trauma to those delicate little hair cells inside the inner ear. And unfortunately, sometimes those things you can't turn around. So what I would say is if you have any potential for a serious noise exposure, just protect your hearing.
- [33:05]
Dr. Craig Casper
Okay.
- [33:05]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
You know what's funny is that my husband is a jazz musician and in our home, the amount of times a day. What bae. What bae. Like, I'm like, oh, my God. I'm like. And he's told me this before. He's like, I'm a musician. I definitely have a little bit of hearing loss.
- [33:18]
Unknown
Does he play? Just curious.
- [33:19]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
He plays accent.
- [33:20]
Unknown
Okay. So he, he's, he's got the luxury of him not being exposed to his own noise necessarily.
- [33:26]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
He's around the amps a lot.
- [33:28]
Unknown
Like, it's all the other things. So you have, if you're exposed to the drummer, if you're in front of the trumpets, you know, that's. Trumpets are notoriously loud.
- [33:35]
Dr. Craig Casper
Right.
- [33:36]
Unknown
Even a piccolo can produce sound levels that are damaging to violins. We know violinists, especially if you're say a right handed violinist, where the violin's.
- [33:44]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
On the left side right by your.
- [33:46]
Unknown
Ear, you get more hearing loss on that side, the left side versus the right side because there's a little bit of a protection is what's called the head shadow effect. So yeah, there's. And the biggest misconception, this is so such an important concept also is that everybody thinks rock musicians are like most susceptible.
- [34:03]
Dr. Craig Casper
Right.
- [34:04]
Unknown
It's like they're just getting exposed to all that noise all the time.
- [34:06]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Yeah, yeah.
- [34:07]
Unknown
The reality is that orchestral musicians have just as much, if not more, they're rehearsing more.
- [34:13]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Yeah, yeah.
- [34:14]
Unknown
And they're just in this wall of sound around them all the time.
- [34:17]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Wall of sound. Absolutely accurate.
- [34:19]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yeah.
- [34:20]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
That shit is powerful.
- [34:21]
Dr. Craig Casper
Has Calvin ever had his hearing tested?
- [34:23]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
I don't think so. I don't think so. And I just want to ask because like we do talk about younger people kind of being like, do I have hearing loss, etc. And I was just having lunch with my dad, who's 75, and he wanted me to ask like, why is there so much stigma against hearing loss and not against like people wear glasses when they can't see and it's like not a thing. And I was like, dad, it's a sign of aging. That's why people like feel weird about it. Is that that's how you feel, right, about the stigma?
- [34:47]
Unknown
Well, I think the stigma is starting to soften quite a bit. Yeah. Because look, we're just wearing stuff in our ears all day, every day. And it's really hard for the general public to differentiate now between what a hearing aid is and what a Bluetooth device is.
- [35:01]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Yes.
- [35:01]
Unknown
And they're oftentimes the lines are crossed with both where they're multi kind of faceted devices. Look, the stigma it's been with us, it made people believe that someone with hearing loss was less than right. I've seen even in my 25, 30 years in the field, that's changed quite a bit. There's no age associated with hearing loss.
- [35:24]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Yeah.
- [35:25]
Unknown
It's not a one to one relationship. Although we do see older folks having hearing loss, but we also see a lot, a lot of young people with hearing loss too. But the beautiful thing is that we're seeing more younger people actually do something to treat their hearing now because these. Look, I don't, I personally don't dispense hearing aids. It's not my wheel. Well, we do it in our practice in the city. I have a colleague who's great at doing that stuff. But these things are tiny. They're computers. They've got AI elements in them now.
- [35:52]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
So. Cool.
- [35:52]
Unknown
Yeah. You can talk on your phone and like, there's just. It's, it's totally different. So I think that's a part of the reason why the stigma is lifting also is because these things actually do what they're supposed to do now.
- [36:03]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Right.
- [36:03]
Unknown
They help people hear better and they look different. They look different. It's a quality of life issue more than anything.
- [36:08]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Absolutely.
- [36:09]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yeah.
- [36:09]
Unknown
You have somebody who has untreated hearing loss and their life is very different than somebody has normal hearing. Hearing.
- [36:14]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Yeah.
- [36:14]
Unknown
They're socially isolated at times. They are more stressed, they're more anxious, they're more depressed. And what we know is if you just treat the hearing loss, that resolves a lot of those things for those patients.
- [36:25]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
There's an essay edited about a woman. She's experiencing anxiety and depression and she got a hearing aid and felt better immediately and got off the other. Like, there's no shame in meds. But she was like, this is affecting my life so much.
- [36:36]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yeah.
- [36:37]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
You said.
- [36:38]
Unknown
Yeah.
- [36:38]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
It's crazy when you're. You can't hear what's going on.
- [36:40]
Dr. Craig Casper
Can't communicate with people for sure.
- [36:43]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Let's take a quick break and we'll be right back.
- [36:51]
Unknown
Hold that serve. There's no time for pickleball because you're going to want to hear this. NOOM now has GLP ones.
- [36:56]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
No way.
- [36:57]
Unknown
Oh, yes way, Fred. Psychology and meds. That's how NOOM helps you lose the weight and keep it off.
- [37:02]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
That's really smart.
- [37:04]
Unknown
Oh, Danny. It's NOOM smart. And they start at just 149 bucks. And they're shipped to your door in seven days. Holy smokes, that's fast. But not as fast as my service game. Hey, who's ready to get pickled?
- [37:14]
Get started with Noom GLP1 today. Not all customers will medically qualify for prescription medications. Compounded medications are not reviewed by the FDA for safety, efficacy or quality. Over the last 75 years, over 10,000 chemicals have been introduced to our food supply. Yet the EU only allows 300 food additives. But at Thrive Market, we bring our members the highest quality brands and restrict more than 1,000 ingredients found at conventional grocery stores. Making the switch is easy with our Healthy Swaps scanner, which finds better versions of all your favorite pantry snacking and home essentials without the added junk, dyes and fillers. Plus, it's all delivered straight to your door. So if you're looking to shop at a grocery store that actually cares about your health, go to thrivemarket.com podcast and you'll get 30% off your first order and a free gift.
- [38:04]
When the energy is high and the music is right, pushing past your limits becomes that much easier. Take a reggaeton run or strength class on the peloton tread and you'll quickly see why these are the workouts you've been searching for. Every day brings new challenges from expert coaches who train and speak the same language as you do. Level up your workouts with peloton tread. Find your push, find your power peloton. Visit onepelaton.com.
- [38:35]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Foreign welcome back to Am I Doing It Wrong?
- [38:44]
Dr. Craig Casper
If we have hearing loss, we are treating it though we can't cure it. Right. It's just, that's just once you've lost some hearing, you're just stuck in a way.
- [38:54]
Unknown
Yeah. At this point, until we have the ability to regenerate those hair cells and the nerves and things like that, we're. We're aiding a hearing loss.
- [39:01]
Dr. Craig Casper
Right.
- [39:02]
Unknown
But we're doing that better than we've ever done before.
- [39:04]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yeah.
- [39:04]
Unknown
Especially the technology's improved, but the fitting, the fitting ability of the professionals has improved significantly as well. So you're correct. We're not curing hearing loss. Right. But there's not many cures for chronic health ailments out there that I know of.
- [39:20]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Thinking about my vision.
- [39:21]
Unknown
Yeah.
- [39:22]
Dr. Craig Casper
You know, should we be seeing an audiologist or an ear doctor more regularly? I mean, I've never seen one in my entire life. Should people be seeing one?
- [39:30]
Unknown
In general, there's this interesting phenomenon that occurs, especially when we're kind of leaving our earlier years and getting middle age, that we typically don't see doctors unless something goes sideways.
- [39:41]
Dr. Craig Casper
Right.
- [39:42]
Unknown
My suggestion to everybody is get a baseline hearing test, regardless what age you are. It's really important because there's things that go undiagnosed for years that could be treated and then ultimately could improve quality of life or in some cases, even save somebody.
- [39:56]
Dr. Craig Casper
Right.
- [39:57]
Unknown
So prevention and being on top of these things and being proactive is critical. So what I would say is get a baseline hearing test.
- [40:05]
Dr. Craig Casper
Okay.
- [40:06]
Unknown
If everything is normal, maybe every other year, get a hearing test just like you get your visual exams.
- [40:11]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Right.
- [40:12]
Unknown
Now, that's for the run of the mill person that doesn't have any general health conditions. But if you're somebody who has diabetes type 1 or type 2 if you're someone who has cardiovascular disease, if you have somebody who has high blood pressure. Because we know that those are things that impact our hearing. Get your hearing tested every year, just like you do if you're diabetic. You get your feet checked, you get your vision checked, you get your HBA1C checked every three months.
- [40:36]
Dr. Craig Casper
Right.
- [40:36]
Unknown
Not a bad idea to stay on top of these.
- [40:38]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
And you just named all of the conditions that run in my community as we age.
- [40:41]
Dr. Craig Casper
There you go.
- [40:42]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Yeah, I need to.
- [40:43]
Unknown
Well, I'm fine to disclose. I've been a type 1 diabetic for 25 years and it was because I had sudden hearing loss when I was at Columbia years ago. And for some strange reason, after I took a. Your traditional treatment, which is a steroid.
- [40:56]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yeah.
- [40:57]
Unknown
They think it's inflammation. It just completely pooped out my pancreas.
- [41:00]
Dr. Craig Casper
Wow.
- [41:00]
Unknown
Oh, wow. So. No, it's all good. Don't, don't feel bad for me.
- [41:03]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Yeah, no, I don't feel bad for you. But it's like kind of like a revelation that we don't think these things are connected sometimes.
- [41:10]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yeah.
- [41:10]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Yeah.
- [41:11]
Unknown
Well, if you're, if you're diabetic, you're twice as likely to have hearing loss than your non diabetic peers. So it's really important to keep that in mind. So endocrinologists should be talking to their patients about this.
- [41:20]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yeah.
- [41:21]
Unknown
Again, it's about education.
- [41:22]
Dr. Craig Casper
So how do you feel about the, the new Apple hearing test? I just took it two days ago because I knew we were going to talk to you. It said I was fine, but I don't know if I really trust.
- [41:31]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Is it a real like diagnostic?
- [41:32]
Dr. Craig Casper
You put your, your AirPods in and then you go through a hearing test.
- [41:36]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
That's really interesting.
- [41:37]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yeah. But do you feel like that maybe that's a first step? Like maybe you take that and see what the results are and then come see someone like you.
- [41:43]
Unknown
It's definitely a first step. But here's what I would say is we've actually had, I've had friends, patients, we've even done this internally in our practice. Compare and contrast. That a kind of iPhone based test.
- [41:54]
Dr. Craig Casper
Right.
- [41:55]
Unknown
With diagnostic test. It's a really good estimate and understanding of what your hearing pattern looks like.
- [42:00]
Dr. Craig Casper
Okay.
- [42:00]
Unknown
Is it a perfect diagnostic? No. Don't make diagnostic decisions based on the Apple. And they will tell you that, right?
- [42:06]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yes.
- [42:07]
Unknown
But again, I think the beautiful thing is it's just drawing attention for the general public on the importance of actually testing Your hearing.
- [42:13]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yeah.
- [42:14]
Unknown
So use that test. If anything seems a little off schedule, an appointment with your audiologist, get your hearing tested, and they'll be able to tell you the real deal.
- [42:23]
Dr. Craig Casper
I mean, I have to say, like, I never thought about testing my hearing until that popped up on my phone. And then I also had no way to do it before. And so I did think it was kind of cool. Yeah. I don't know.
- [42:34]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Yeah.
- [42:35]
Unknown
That was so interesting.
- [42:36]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yeah.
- [42:36]
Unknown
No, and I just think of all the data that they're collecting as well, and what that's going to be in the future from a health perspective. Positive.
- [42:43]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yeah.
- [42:43]
Unknown
And look, there's potential for data going sideways also, but I really do appreciate the fact that there's real potential for goodwill here.
- [42:53]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
I never thought about it that way, like, collecting data for good. And you're right. It is going to be like a health outcomes measure. I want to go really down to basics, if I might. We have a listener question. How are we supposed to clean our ears with Q tips?
- [43:05]
Dr. Craig Casper
I've heard never use a Q tip.
- [43:07]
Unknown
Yeah. Don't use Q tip. So if you. So if you look at the box of. Let's not pull on just Q tips.
- [43:11]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
But is there anything around penetrating your.
- [43:15]
Unknown
I don't want you guys losing sponsors. Sorry.
- [43:18]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Q tip. Big Q tip. Yeah.
- [43:20]
Unknown
But if you look on the box of cotton swabs, there's nothing in there that says it's used for cleaning ears.
- [43:24]
Dr. Craig Casper
Right.
- [43:25]
Unknown
For cleaning electronics, taking makeup off, all that stuff. It's just. I don't know where this started. If you take a look at the diameter of the cotton swab, it's about the diameter of your ear canal.
- [43:38]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yeah.
- [43:39]
Unknown
And if you just stick that in your ear, all you're doing is plunging the wax further down into the ear canal. And you might get a little satisfaction out of. Oh, it's. You know, you get a little wax on the. On the Q tip, but you're not really getting anything.
- [43:50]
Dr. Craig Casper
No.
- [43:50]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
You're not cleaning anything.
- [43:51]
Unknown
So Q tips are not meant for cleaning ears. Now you can use them on the outside of the ear.
- [43:55]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Yes, that's what I've heard.
- [43:56]
Unknown
Yeah. I do that every single day. I get out of the shower. I don't like water in my ear. A little bit here on the. The opening of the ear canal and then around. That's fine. But my wife sticks Q tips down her ears. Some people have this thing with.
- [44:10]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
It feels good.
- [44:10]
Unknown
Well, that's the thing. Yeah. It's a tactile thing. Right. And I've seen Horrible things happen where people put Q tips in there, and then they start brushing their teeth, the Q tips still sticking in their ear, and then next thing you know, cringe. So then you have what's called the conductive hearing loss because you punctured the eardrum.
- [44:29]
Dr. Craig Casper
Right.
- [44:29]
Unknown
And it's painful too. So no Q tips in the ear canal. Outside of the ear is totally fine.
- [44:34]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Okay.
- [44:35]
Dr. Craig Casper
Okay. But to clean it. So I had a doctor who once said, just literally when you're in the shower, you using shampoo or whatever, just put a soapy finger in there and that should be fine. How would you clean an ear?
- [44:45]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Put a soapy finger in there.
- [44:47]
Dr. Craig Casper
That sounds disgusting. When I say, now that I think.
- [44:49]
Unknown
About it, this show totally took a turn completely.
- [44:51]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Listen, it's once every episode and it's usually because of me. And today it was cause of Noah.
- [44:55]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yeah, but how do you feel about a soapy finger in there?
- [44:58]
Unknown
Here's what I would say, is that if you look at the ear canal. So earwax is a normal protective mechanism for the ear canal.
- [45:04]
Dr. Craig Casper
Right.
- [45:05]
Unknown
It actually is toxic to bugs also. So it actually keeps bugs out of your ears.
- [45:10]
Dr. Craig Casper
That's so cool.
- [45:11]
Unknown
Now, the ear canal itself is just skin tissue, and the wax is produced from what's called sebaceous glands. They're little glands in the ear canal.
- [45:19]
Dr. Craig Casper
Right.
- [45:20]
Unknown
Normal. Should be there. Keeps the ear canal healthy. The ear canal skin is kind of like a conveyor belt where as it starts to die off, it migrates outward, taking along with it the wax as well.
- [45:35]
Dr. Craig Casper
Ah, interesting.
- [45:36]
Unknown
So if you just run water in your ear in the shower, it should flush that out.
- [45:41]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yeah.
- [45:41]
Unknown
Now, some people produce a ton of wax and some people have really hairy ear canals.
- [45:46]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Okay.
- [45:46]
Unknown
It's a little more difficult to get the wax out in those particular cases. Don't dig. Go to a professional, have them look in your ears. There's easy, simple ways to get it out that are safe.
- [45:56]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yeah.
- [45:57]
Unknown
I would even say be careful with those over the counter ear washes. And definitely don't stick things like bobby pins or pen caps in your ear.
- [46:08]
Dr. Craig Casper
Right.
- [46:08]
Unknown
None of that stuff is safe.
- [46:09]
Dr. Craig Casper
How do you feel, though, about hydrogen peroxide or those drops that you get? That's fine.
- [46:15]
Unknown
The drops soften up the wax and.
- [46:16]
Dr. Craig Casper
Then you can flush it out.
- [46:17]
Unknown
And then it'll flush out.
- [46:18]
Dr. Craig Casper
Not safe.
- [46:19]
Unknown
But don't do it too much because the last thing you want to do is over clean your ear because again, you want some wax in the ear canal that's healthy.
- [46:26]
Dr. Craig Casper
Okay.
- [46:26]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Okay.
- [46:27]
Unknown
I did a segment for Dr. Oz years ago, and he had a segment during Halloween for Gross or Not. These were health related habits that people had. So you had experts come on. And in any case, there was. There was a woman in the audience who was actually eating her earwax.
- [46:41]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Oh my gosh. That's worse than sticking a Q tip all the way in your ear. That's crazy.
- [46:46]
Unknown
I had to go through the whole. I had to go through the whole kind of, is it safe? Is it not, Is it toxic? And it's basically like eating snot.
- [46:54]
Dr. Craig Casper
Right, Right.
- [46:55]
Unknown
It's gross, but it's not gonna harm you in any way. So at the end of the segment, you know, Nemeth turns over to the lady and says, you know, Dr. Casper said it's. It's kind of gross. So what do you think? You gonna stop? There's like a five second pause. She's like, nope.
- [47:10]
Dr. Craig Casper
I mean, you know what? We try.
- [47:13]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
It's so hard to be too.
- [47:15]
Dr. Craig Casper
We try to be non judgmental on the show. So if you're listening and that's your thing, we're not going to yuck your yum. But I cannot imagine I'm yucking your yum. Yeah.
- [47:24]
Unknown
There's a lot of things that I'm totally fine with.
- [47:27]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yeah.
- [47:27]
Unknown
This is just not one. And I'm the one who looks at earwax all day long.
- [47:31]
Dr. Craig Casper
Pretty much. Right.
- [47:32]
Unknown
You don't. Don't eat your earwax.
- [47:34]
Dr. Craig Casper
Okay.
- [47:36]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
I need a minute. Yeah.
- [47:37]
Dr. Craig Casper
We like to ask, when we have experts come in, what is one thing as an ear, a hearing expert that you would never do?
- [47:45]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Hmm.
- [47:47]
Unknown
Eat earwax.
- [47:49]
Dr. Craig Casper
Besides. But from like a safety point of view, what is something that you would.
- [47:54]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Or that you see around often?
- [47:56]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yeah. You see people doing that, you just are like, don't do that.
- [47:59]
Unknown
Yeah. I. I hate to be like the old curmudgeon guy. I want everybody to enjoy life and everything in moderation.
- [48:06]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yeah.
- [48:06]
Unknown
But when I take a look at the things that are preventable, those are the things that I kind of wrap my arms around quite a bit, is how can I actually live a longer, healthier life. It's not just about lifespan, it's about health span. And when we know the importance of hearing in terms of our cognitive ability, we know it in terms of our social interactions and how meaningful things like music and sound are to us for connection. I just think it's silly not to protect our hearing when we go to concerts.
- [48:30]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yeah.
- [48:31]
Unknown
And look, I'm not walking around the floor of a concert and just Waving my finger at people. That's not my point. And I don't look at them strange either. But I wish that more people would understand the importance of protecting their hearing. And we are not immune. It doesn't matter how young you are. It doesn't matter how healthy you think you are. Noise is noise. We are all susceptible. And at the end of the day, why not be able to enjoy sound for as long as possible? Yeah, it's a connector.
- [48:57]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
You want to enjoy the concerts, you know, until you're good and pruny.
- [49:00]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yeah, right.
- [49:01]
Unknown
I love the concerts. When I see, like, the old hippies there.
- [49:03]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Yeah.
- [49:04]
Unknown
Now I don't even know what their hearing looks like, but they're still enjoying the heck out of their time there for sure. That's the guy I want to be.
- [49:09]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Yeah. So we all want to be that guy.
- [49:11]
Dr. Craig Casper
Dr. Craig, thank you. This was great.
- [49:13]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
So great.
- [49:14]
Dr. Craig Casper
I'm a little. We end the show so often where I'm like, I've learned so much.
- [49:17]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Worried and empowered.
- [49:18]
Unknown
Yeah.
- [49:18]
Dr. Craig Casper
Worried and empowered. Terrified and feeling great at the same time. Beauty and terror all in one. But thank you for being here.
- [49:26]
Unknown
Awesome. I appreciate the time, and it's great to talk to you guys.
- [49:34]
Dr. Craig Casper
It's time for Better in Five. These are your top five takeaways from this episode.
- [49:38]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Number one, hearing loss can happen at any age, so get your ears checked.
- [49:43]
Dr. Craig Casper
Number two, living in a loud city actually shouldn't be too much of a problem. It's how long you're exposed to the noise that matters.
- [49:51]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Number three is hard for me. Keep your headphone volume at about 65% or less.
- [49:57]
Dr. Craig Casper
Number four, wearing ear protection can prevent hearing loss. So get out those earplugs.
- [50:03]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
And number five, stop using cotton swabs to clean your ears. Oh, man. Okay, Noah, were you protecting your hearing?
- [50:12]
Unknown
Wrong.
- [50:13]
Dr. Craig Casper
So you know what? I think I'm pretty good because my anxiety protects me in a lot of situations where I'm just so afraid. So, like I said, the volume is low on my headphones. But here's the thing. I could definitely be wearing earplugs at concerts. And every time that Benji and I go to a concert, I'm not lying. Literally every time we forget our earplugs. So we go to a drugstore and buy a new pack. We have, like, eight to 12 packs of full earplugs at home. And then we forget to put them in when we're there, too. We just don't even wear them.
- [50:42]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
It's just not a part of. I feel like it's not in the kind of conversation enough.
- [50:46]
Dr. Craig Casper
No. So I want to get better about that. What about you?
- [50:49]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
You know what? I like you said, wasn't thinking about it much because I have other things to be worried about too. But yeah, I think I'm going to be a little more cognizant about the volume that I listen to and I'm going to go and get a hearing test because I right now fortunately have insurance. Yeah, like if you have it, exploit it, you know as much as possible. So yeah.
- [51:10]
Dr. Craig Casper
And the sooner you know if there is any issue, if you do have even mild hearing loss, then maybe it'll.
- [51:14]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
Start working on it.
- [51:15]
Dr. Craig Casper
Yeah, exactly. You will lower the volume. You'll wear the earplugs. All the things before all those little hairs that are in our ears just disappear.
- [51:23]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
God save my ear hairs please.
- [51:25]
Dr. Craig Casper
Anyways, until next time, as long as there are things to get wrong, going to be right here to help you do them better.
- [51:31]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
You heard me.
- [51:33]
Dr. Craig Casper
Do you have something you think you're doing wrong? Email us@amidoingitwrongoughuffpost.com and let us know.
- [51:47]
Unknown
Clogged drains are such a drain. Stagnant water Tug of wars with tangled hairs Plumber on Speed Dial it's time to tell your plumber to lose your number because Tubshroom lets you say goodbye to clogged tub, sink or shower drains forever. Tubshroom's patented design catches hair and debris while your water flows freely. Over 10 million people trust Tubshroom to make home life easier. Join them visit TubShroom.com that's Tub S-H-R-O-O-M.com.
- [52:17]
Noah Michaelson
Are you still quoting 30 year old movies? Have you said cool beans in the past 90 days? Do you still think Discover isn't widely accepted? If this sounds like you, you're stuck in the past. Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide. And every time you make a purchase with your card, you automatically earn cash back. Welcome to the now it pays to Discover. Learn more@discover.com creditcard Based on the February.
- [52:45]
Raj Panjabi Johnson
2024 Nielsen report my dad works in B2B marketing. He came by my school for career day and said he was a big roas man. Then he told everyone how much he loved calculating his return on ad spend. My friends still laugh at me to this day.
- [53:00]
Noah Michaelson
Not everyone gets B2B, but with LinkedIn you'll be able to reach people who do get a $100 credit on your next ad campaign. Go to LinkedIn.com results to claim your credit. That's LinkedIn.com results. Terms and conditions apply. LinkedIn the Place to Be to Be.
- [53:16]
Unknown
Over the last 75 years, over 10,000 chemicals have been introduced to our food supply, yet the EU only allows 300 food additives. But at Thrive Market, we bring our members the highest quality brands and restrict more than 1,000 ingredients found at conventional grocery stores. Making the switch is easy with our Healthy Swaps scanner, which finds better versions of all your favorite pantry, snacking and home essentials without the added junk dyes and fillers. Plus, it's all delivered straight to your door. So if you're looking to shop at a grocery store that actually cares about your health, go to thrivemarket.com podcast and you'll get 30% off your first order and a free gift.