Human Auditory System: Mobile/Cell Phones Can Harm Hearing

I have not tracked down the conference paper on this yet, but the results do go hand in hand wiht what I have noticed with my own hearing - talking on a cell/mobile phone for over an hour a day can harm your hearing.  The research was conducted by Dr. Naresh Panda (an ear, nose, and throat specialist in India).

Some time ago, I began noticing the feeling of my ear warming up - as was described in the article - and I associated it with a decrease in my sensitivity of hearing.  At first, I just made a point of switching the phone to the other ear every few minutes.  Over time, I switched to speaker phone mode when possible and ear buds when not.  That is how I still behave today. Of course, I try to be overly protective of my hearing anyway - for example, when using ear plugs on airplanes and when operating lawn mowers and blowers.  Better safe than sorry, as the saying goes....and in this study, it seems that I may have erred on the correct side.