Student falls asleep with earbuds on and wakes up DEAF
Astudent who fell asleep while listening to music on his earbuds woke up completely deaf in one ear.
One of the student’s earbuds fell out while he was sleeping, otherwise he might have lost hearing in both of his ears, medics say.
Luckily, the unidentified second-year university student received treatment in time to prevent any permanent damage and gradually recovered his hearing following five days in Taiwan’s Asia University Hospital in Taichung City.
Dr. Tian Huiji, director of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at the hospital, warned people not to use earbuds when sleeping.
He also advised those who experienced any problems to seek medical help as soon as possible to prevent permanent damage.
The medical expert suggested that while people might listen to loud levels of sound through their earbuds in the day without experiencing sudden deafness, doing the same at night is more dangerous.
Speaking to OMG Taiwan recently, Dr Huiji explained that when sleeping the body’s blood circulation slows down.
This means the hair cells in our ears receive less blood to help deal with the loud sounds - resulting in sudden deafness.
According to the health expert, earbuds are especially dangerous as they restrict any sound from escaping, unlike headphones which allows some of it to dissipate.
Last year, William Shapiro,