Gurugram, Feb 26: Doctors in Gurugram district say onlineclasses and work from home due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic is causing eyeand ear problems among children, adolescents and young adults.
Doctors have warned that this could lead to hearing and eyedifficulties among those who failed to curb the use of earphones, mobile phonesand laptops.
However, the doctors also asserted that one other reasonwhich causes hearing problems is the noise pollution in Gurugram.
Rahul Garg, Head of RG Ear-Nose-Throat (ENT) Hospital, saidlifestyle choices lead to more cases of hearing and eye impairment thanage-related factors.
"Before the Covid-19 pandemic, a few patients used tovisit hospitals/clinics who were developing hearing problems after Diwali lastyear due to firecrackers but amid Covid-19, a number of patients from all agegroups are visiting doctors' clinics due to hearing problems and eye infectioncomplications."
Garg pointed out that all these complaints are directlylinked to extensive use of headphones at higher volume, mobile and laptops.
The doctor said the continued use of earphones, mobiles andlaptops at high volume is leading to such problems among people.
"120 decibels is harmful for ears and 140 decibels canpermanently damage our ears. Any noise more than 100 decibels can impact thephysical as well as the mental health of our body," Garg said, adding thatadults can set the volume of earphones or headphones but children don't know toset the volume of earphones which causes hearing problems.
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ENT Specialist Yogesh Goyal said, "Multiple people areworking for more than eight hours wearing headphones and in front of laptops.This is putting a lot of stress on their ears and unsterilised earbuds orear-plugs could spread infection."
Goyal advises removing the earphones from time-to-time inorder to allow fresh air to go inside the ears. He said school children shouldnot be using headphones at all. If they are attending classes on a laptop orpersonal computers, then the device volume is sufficient.
The doctors also suggest that the concerned authoritiesshould strictly tackle noise polluters who are responsible for noise pollution.The traffic police should increase the use of audio meters which help to catchnoise polluters.
D.K. Bhardwaj, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic),informed that 326 challans were issued for pressure honking and 291 fines wereissued for removal of silencer from motorbikes and other vehicles in 2020.
"We will not tolerate anyone in Gurugram who breakstraffic rules. The Traffic police from time-to-time has launched variouscampaigns to catch traffic violators. I would like to appeal to the motoristsin Gurugram to follow traffic rules across the district or be ready to facehefty traffic fines," Bhardwaj said.