Repelling The Sonic Assault With MSA Sordin   by Jacob Williams

in Business    (submitted 2011-07-31)

The more you know about hearing, and its science, the less likely you are going to be to move a Q-tip past the shallow opening of your ear canal. In fact, you may well place ear plugs into your ears and never remove them. Thankfully, that kind of drastic behavior is not necessary, due to the work done by MSA Sordin.

In 1989, in Falun, Sweden, the forest industry became concerned with its workers losing their hearing. Sordin stepped in and developed a hearing protection system, which allowed the forestry workers to turn down the volume on their environment. They recently merged with a US company, MSA, who is the world's leading provider of health and safety products for both mankind, and the planet.

Explaining how hearing works is not as hard to do as you may imagine. The inner part of the ear has a structure called, the cochlea. It is surrounded by fluid, and it contains multiple tiny hairs. Sound creates pressure waves in the fluid that cause the hairs to move. This movement by the hairs stimulates the auditory nerve. The various frequency of noises effect different hairs on the cochlea; all of which translates to the sensation of sounds in different pitches. Okay, explaining how hearing works is easier than understanding it, but you do not need to understand, because MSA Sordin does.

However, once you understand, sort of, how hearing works, it is easier to understand how hearing can be lost. Very simply put, exposure to sounds that are too loud, or exposure to loud sounds over time, will damage the hairs in the cochlea, and they cannot be repaired. Hearing loss can begin with repeated exposure to noises over 85 decibels. The humming of a refrigerator is 45 decibels, however, constant exposure to noises under 75 decibels is not believed to have any adverse effect on one's hearing.

It is worth it to take a quick look on how MSA Sordin works to save your hearing. First, these headsets can be worn as such, or mounted on a helmet. Some of the headsets can even be worn under ballistic helmets, and the cost is between 149.00 dollars, and, 249.00 dollars. The headsets make use of a special gel that provides a soft cushion and a tight seal between the headset, and the ears. The gel works together with a foam separator that prevents sound from coming in through to the ear. The headsets are really remarkable, because while they block out the blaring and harmful sounds, they allow the person wearing them to hear warning signals. They have also evolved since 1989 to allow for an auxiliary input for MP3, or, com radio. Sound can either be a joy, or a sonic assault on the inner ear. It is worth knowing that the assault can be repelled.

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Visit MSA Sordin for more information or visit our blog at http://cvcourt.com/msa-sordin%E2%80%99s-innovation-in-hearing-protection/.