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Simple Tips to Prevent Earphone Abuse

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While a lot of people are aware of the impact of noise on their hearing, many remain unfortunately oblivious to the harm they are causing until the effects of years of accumulated damage begin to manifest.

Apart from other forms of exposure to noise which may cause damage to the ear, constant use of earphones can also result in severe damage to sensitive organs including the brain, if not checked.

Yudala – Nigeria’s leading composite e-commerce company – runs the rule over the widespread abuse of these products which come in different shapes, sizes and decibel levels.

Certain products appeal to almost all classes of shoppers. An earphone or earpiece, as the case may be, is one of such ubiquitous devices.

While the majority of customers who troop into Yudala stores nationwide or visit the website fall into the youthful category, it is worth stating that the love for earphones does not appeal only to the youth.

Unarguably, the ever-increasing use of mobile phones and the love for music are major reasons for the booming market in earphones.

Music, for many in the young and adult population, is indeed a lifestyle that cannot be compromised.

When it’s time to find relief, exhilaration or succour in the clear, resonant sounds of music without constituting a nuisance to others especially in shared spaces – offices or public transport inclusive, the earphone remains the best companion. 

The earphone is also a fitting tool for making and receiving calls. It is a common sight in most corporate establishments to see company executives rely on Bluetooth-enabled earpieces, wireless devices or the plain, old earphones for this purpose. In most cases, these devices stay connected to the device and the receiver’s ear all day long…

It is important to know that improper and occasional use of earphones may pose no danger to the ear drums. Improper use or abuse, however, may pre-dispose you to severe problems. One major form of abuse is increasing the volume when you can still keep it low and achieve raft listening.

Using earphones at a sufficiently high volume level may cause trauma to cochlear structure in the inner ear which gives rise to temporary or permanent hearing impairment or deafness.

The risk is higher especially in loud places as the volume often needs to compete with the noise of the environment. Noise pollution does not only emanate from loudspeakers or vehicular horns, it largely comes from our earphones.

Effects: If not careful, that tiny earphone can also have a negative remote effect on your sense organs. Your exposure to high sound pressure levels at high volume can be damaging to sensitive structures in the inner ear which affects other sense organs such as the eye, nose and tongue. Addiction to improper usage of earphones may result to a serious damaging exposure of the cells and tissues of the inner ear which could be in a dynamic state of injury, degeneration and/or repair. This has been termed as the acute phase of noise damage.

Bacteria from the ears of different people can easily travel through your earphones if you keep sharing them without proper sanitization. In most of cases, people who use earphones regularly experience more ear wax which results in tinnitus, ear infection and even problems in hearing. Apart from experiencing numbness and pains in the ear, other effects of wrong usage of earphones are brain deficiencies.

The electromagnetic waves produced by Bluetooth-earphones can cause serious dangers for your brain. However, no strong medical evidence has yet been found to prove it. But people who are daily users of Bluetooth, headphones and earphones have been found more prone to brain-related problems. The inner ear is directly linked to the brain, even a little infection in the inner ear can directly affect the brain and can lead to serious health issues.

Symptoms: Hearing damage from earphones is more common than from loudspeakers, even at comparable volumes. This is because the earphones are very close and almost in the ear. Some of the symptoms of ear damage are hearing loss (especially in noisy places), buzzing or ringing in the ears, slight muffling of sounds, difficulty in understanding speech, hearing strange noise, etc.
 
Precaution: Wear earmuff—style headphones even though they are more expensive than the other types. The best of them all is “noise-cancelling” headphones, which reduce environmental noise. This lessens the need to crank the volume above 50 percent. It is advisable to avoid using tiny earphones that directly go into the ear canals. Those big headphones which stay outside your ears are better. However, it is risky to wear them while on the road, especially in busy commercial cities such as Lagos, Port Harcourt, Onitsha or Aba. This, in itself, may expose you to other dangers on the road such as fast moving vehicles.

You can listen to music at a reduced/ softer volume for a longer time. Always keep your volume below 60% and limit your listening to under one hour per day. You can buy the newer ear phones that offer a tighter fit to block out more environmental noise, which sometimes is the reason for the volume increase. This would allow you to listen at a lower volume and save you the risk of hearing loss. Before shopping for one, please check out the quality and decibel information.

Avoid sharing your earphones with others to avoid bacterial infection. Make sure you change the sponge cover/ rubber cover of your earphones at least once a month. If your earphones doesn’t have sponge covers, make sure you clean them always.

Conclusively, ear phones are good but understanding their proper usage is vital to keeping our other sense organs safe from damage. It is wrong to use your ear phones when you are alone in the room. This is the time you should spare your ear drums and listen directly from the phone speakers.


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WIOCC’s Strategic Role in Addressing Subsea Cable Outages

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WIOCC, Africa’s digital backbone, is leading the continent’s response to the cable cuts currently affecting the WACS, ACE, Main One and SAT3 subsea systems on Africa’s western seaboard.

WIOCC’s highly resilient network, with hyperscale capacity on every major system is the largest in Africa and ideally placed to swiftly deliver restoration solutions to hyperscalers, fixed and mobile carriers, internet service providers and other clients, enabling them to quickly re-establish key traffic routes into, within and out of Africa, thereby minimising performance degradation for their end-customers.

According to Chris Wood, Group CEO of WIOCC, “Immediately the four subsea cables were severed off the coast of Cote d‘Ivoire our engineering, operations and field teams swung into action.

“They have been working tirelessly for the last 48 hours with our strategic network partners and equipment suppliers and will, within the next 24 hours, have activated an unprecedented additional 2 Terabits per second (Tbps) of capacity across the unaffected cables in our network to support the capacity needs of other network operators and hyperscalers.

“Our clients connected directly at Open Access Data Centres (OADC) data centres in South Africa and Nigeria are already protected from the impact of the subsea outages due to the unique levels of redundancy and scale of the WIOCC core backbone.

“In Lagos, the Equiano cable, in which WIOCC owns a fibre pair, has not been affected by the incident off Cote d‘Ivoire. WIOCC lands the cable directly into the OADC data centre, establishing the most resilient digital ecosystem hub in Lagos and offering the most direct connectivity to Europe and South Africa.

“As a result, OADC’s data centres and WIOCC’s hyperscale network are playing a key role in restoring services to other facilities and operators currently suffering outages in Lagos and elsewhere on the continent.”

“Our priority is to ensure minimal disruption and maximum resilience for our clients,” added Ryan Sher, Group Chief Operating Officer at WIOCC.

“We have invested heavily in deploying diverse, highly-scalable national and international connectivity to support the uptime requirements of our wholesale client base. Investing at scale means that we consistently carry extra capacity, ensuring we are able to rapidly turn up or re-route capacity to address unexpected network disruptions.

“It also enables us to deploy short-term restoration solutions for other operators on a case-by-case basis. Any service provider affected by these outages, whether an existing WIOCC client or not, is encouraged to contact us to explore options.”

WIOCC’s policy of strategic deployment of converged, open-access digital infrastructure at a hyperscale level and delivery of unrivalled resiliency, enables it to meet and anticipate the needs of Africa’s wholesale community with sufficient scale and network diversity to address even the most challenging situations.


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Voice, Data Services Affected by Undersea Cable Cuts Restored – NCC

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Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has announced that the recent Undersea Cable Cuts that affected Voice, Data Services have now been restored.

Aminu Maida, executive vice chairman, NCC

 

The commission in a statement released on Monday and signed by Reuben Muoka, Director, Public Affairs, said that services have now been restored to approximately 90% of their peak utilization capacities.

According to him, “following the disruption on March 14, 2024, which affected data and voice services due to cuts in undersea fibre optics along the coasts of Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal, we are pleased to announce that services have now been restored to approximately 90% of their peak utilization capacities.

“All operators who were impacted by the cuts have taken recovery capacity from submarine cables which were not impacted by the cuts, and have thus recovered approximately 90% of their peak utilisation capacities.

“Mobile Network Operators have assured the Commission that data and voice services would operate optimally pending full repairs of the undersea cables as they have managed to activate alternative connectivities to bring back the situation to normalcy.

“We extend our appreciation to telecom consumers for their patience and understanding during the downtime caused by the undersea fibre cuts,” he concluded.


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IIM United Kingdom Inducts new Members, Highlights the Power of Intelligent Technologies

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Institute of Information Management (IIM) United Kingdom successfully hosted its highly anticipated Annual Convention and 47th Induction/Investiture ceremony on March 9, 2024, at the Wesley London Euston.

Dr. Oyedokun Oyewole, president/chairman-Governing Council, Institute of Information Management (IIM) Africa

The event, held under the theme “AI Renaissance: Unleashing the Power of Intelligent Technologies,” brought together distinguished professionals, thought leaders, and industry experts from various sectors.

The convention commenced with a thought-provoking Welcome Address and Keynote Speech delivered by Amb. (Dr) Oyedokun Ayodeji Oyewole FIIM, ERMS, RMEMS, FIRMS, the esteemed international President of the Institute of Information Management (IIM) Africa. His address set the tone for insightful discussions and collaborative engagements throughout the event.

Among the notable highlights was the Inauguration and Taking of Oath of Office by Acting Vice President of IIM United Kingdom Chapter, Prof. Rotimi Jaiyesimi, FIIM, who assumed the role in an acting capacity following his recent appointment by the IIM Africa Board.

A significant announcement was made during the convention regarding the launch of a single global annual Convention starting in 2025. 

“This groundbreaking initiative”, according to Dr. Oyedokun Oyewole, president/chairman-Governing Council, Institute of Information Management (IIM) Africa, “will unite all IIM Africa Global Chapters for the Convention, induction, and investiture, streamlining the event into a singular, impactful gathering. The announcement, made by Aisha Dania Ogieriakhi, FIIM, Director of IIM United Kingdom Chapter, marks a new era of collaboration and cohesion within the IIM community”.

The convention attracted a diverse array of attendees, including dignitaries, traditional rulers, captains of industry, and professionals from various backgrounds. Notable guests included Chief Bimbo Roberts Folayan, FIIM – Former Chairman (2011-2015) Central Association of Nigeria in the United Kingdom (CANUK), Cllr. Sunny Lambe, FIIM – Southwark Labour and Cooperative Councilor, Michaelene Holder-March, FIIM – Managing Director of MHM Health Consultancy Ltd, His Highness Papa Paul Jones Eganda, FIIM – Founder and the President of AIDO Network International, Chief (Dr) Richmond Macgrey, FIIM – Representative & Public Relations Minister of His Royal Majesty, Ogiame Atuwatse III, (Olu of Warri) in the Diaspora and others.

Throughout the event, discussions revolved around key themes such as the transformative potential of artificial intelligence, the ethical implications of intelligent technologies, and the role of information management in shaping the future.

A highlight of the convention was the induction of new members into the Honorary Fellowship Grade and Professional Fellowship Grade, recognizing their exemplary contributions to the field of data and information management. Additionally, the collaboration between IIM and the International University of Information Management (IUIM) resulted in the conferment of Honorary Doctorate Degree Awards to deserving professionals and achievers in society, adding a prestigious dimension to the event. 

Both sessions were anchored by the duo of Antoinette R. Okoye and Olufemi Ibiwoye, a fixed specialist at BT Enterprises PLC London, England, United Kingdom.

One memorable moment came from Julliet Makhapila, a Community Transformer, Changemaker, Innovator, and Social Impactor from the United Kingdom, who volunteered to extend the IIM Africa initiative to her home country of Kenya, further expanding the institute’s reach and impact.

The convention provided ample networking opportunities and special activities for attendees, fostering meaningful connections and collaborations among participants.

Co-hosted by IIM Africa and the International University of Information Management (IUIM), the 2024 Annual Convention epitomized the mission and goals of the Institute of Information Management, serving as a platform for knowledge sharing, professional development, data leadership development and overall community building leveraging on access to quality data for effective decision making in both public and private establishments.

As the convention concluded, the main takeaways included maintaining a vibrant community of professionals, sharing best practices, and nurturing collaborative efforts to advance the field of data and information management.


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