A 16-year-old resident of China temporarily lost his hearing after spending four hours in a park listening to the chirping of cicadas. The next day, the teenager woke up with a severe ringing in his ears and could barely hear surrounding sounds, prompting his mother to rush him to the hospital, reports infohub.kz.
Medical examination revealed that the noise level from the cicada swarm in the park reached 80–90 decibels, comparable to the sound of a busy highway or a lawnmower. Prolonged exposure to such loud noise caused damage to the hair cells in the auditory canal. Doctors diagnosed the patient with acute sensorineural hearing loss.
The teenager was prescribed a course of therapy with steroid drugs and vasodilators. Doctors noted that timely medical attention helped fully restore his hearing. Specialists warn that prolonged exposure to areas with noisy insects can be as dangerous for the ears as attending rock concerts.