MJ Industrial Hearing

Hey Folks, we're here at the Vermillion Fair today, Friday and Saturday. Stop by and say "Hi!" and we can give you 10% off your hearing protection.

Your Earwax Can Tell How Healthy You Are. What Color Is Yours?

Knowing the color of your ear wax is important to understanding your daily health.

viraldid.com As is the case with most bodily fluids, earwax is rarely the topic of casual conversation. But the fact is, this sticky substance is actually very important for our bodies and can tell us a lot about our health. It sounds like a disgusting idea at first, but the next time you clean your ears...

Ever experienced ringing in your ear lasting 10 to 30 seconds? Especially in quiet or relaxing environments? This is completely normal and 80 to 90% of the population experiences this, due to the outer ear hairs creating positive feedback in the attempt to increase your hearing in this quiet enviornment.

What isn't normal is when the perceived ringing lasts longer than a few minutes and occurs multiple times throughout the day/week.

Have a question regarding hearing or noise? Let us know in the comments below.

~Nate

We're here in Grande Prairie today and tomorrow for the Peace Region Petroleum Show.

How does sound affect you?

Let me start with the observation that most sound around you is accidental and most of it is unpleasant. We stand on street corners, shouting over traffic noise and occasional construction noises, pretending it doesn't exist. The habit of suppressing noise ("You just get used to it") has meant that our relationship with sound has become mostly unconscious.

There are four ways sound is affecting you all the time and I'd like to raise them in your unconsciousness today.

The first is physiological. A fire alarm ringing can induce your body's fight or flight instinct due to the cortisol release when you hear an alarming sound. Another way sound can affect your physiology is by listening to surf. Your brain relates these sounds as safe and soothing, and subconsciously, your body relates surf (approximately 12 cycles per minute) to your rested breathing rate.

The second is psychological. Music is the most powerful form of sound that we know that affects our emotional state. However, music is not the only sound that affects our emotional state.

Natural sound can do this too. Birdsong, for example, is the sound which most people find reassuring. There's a reason: over hundreds of thousands of years we've learned that when the birds are singing, things are safe. It's when they stop you need to be worried.

The third way in which sound affects you is cognitively. You can't understand two people talking at once. You have to choose which person you're going to listen to.

The fourth way in which sound affects us is behaviorally. With all that other stuff going on, it would be amazing if our behavior didn't change. People can work harder and longer when they're listening to their favourite band or song but feel fatigued sooner when listening to unwanted noise such as grinders and pneumatic drills throughout the day. Most people would leave the room when noise became excessive after a few seconds, but for individuals that are required to be exposed to these noises throughout the day, more often rather than not, have adverse health effects because of it.

So I hope this talk has raised sound in your consciousness. If you're listening consciously, you can take control of the sound around you. It's good for your health and for your productivity. If we all do that, we move to a state that I like to think will be sound living in the world.

Nathan Henry

Referencing Julian Treasure's articles regarding "The Sound Around Us"

MJ Industrial Hearing

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