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As Jauns.lv observed at the beginning of the week, long queues of customers are still forming at the new store in Ilguciems.

The great interest of the townspeople in shopping at “Mere” was also evidenced by the photos posted on social networks at the end of March with unprecedented long lines to the yellow shop.

At the low-price store “Mere” are still long lines

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The queues are also thought to be partly due to the current Covid-19 epidemiological safety rules governing the flow of people at the point of sale.

Jauns.lv has already reported that SIA “Latprodukti”, which represents the “Mere” network in Latvia, plans to develop a chain of low-priced essential goods stores in the country.

The area of ​​the stores is planned to be 800-1200 m2.

“Mere” promises customers the lowest possible prices – they will be at least 20-30% lower than in any other Latvian store.

As the company’s representatives explain, this is possible due to the minimum trade mark-up.

Up to 70% of “Mere” store offer will be food products: dairy products, meat products, vegetables, groceries, semi-finished products, spices, beverages, but 30% – non-food products: household chemicals, industrial goods, household goods and seasonal goods.

The first store of the low-price retailer “Mere” in Latvia has been opened in Riga

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The “Mere” network offers people low prices, which is especially relevant during the Covid-19 crisis, so buyers have the opportunity to pay for the product, not for the brand. The company describes itself as a store for people who can count both their time and money.

Usually the goods in stores are sold out quickly, so “Mere” stores are also a warehouse, and the goods are placed on pallets.

Starting operations in Latvia is the next step in the company’s development in the Baltic region and Europe. Nine “Mere” stores are already operating in Lithuania, and it is planned to open brand stores in Estonia as well.

What is “Mere”?

Mere is one of the largest low-cost retailers in Eastern Europe.

The retail network includes more than 2,000 stores located in countries such as Lithuania, Germany, Poland, Serbia, Romania, Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus.

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In Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, the company operates under the Svetofor brand.

The forthcoming development plans of “Mere” include the expansion of the store network in all European countries.

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“Nature has not created people for constant, long-lasting noise, we are not physiologically built for such trials. Our ears are certainly not suitable for life at the foot of an active volcano, where you can hear continuous noise. Nature wanted man to hear the hum of a leaf when a dangerous beast lurked, to hear where the hare was running while hunting. However, man-made technologies violate the natural physiological limit, ”says Rihards Urtāns, an otolaryngologist at the Association of Health Centers invited by the Moon Pharmacy.

The world’s accepted sound intensity step is three decibels. As the sound intensity increases by three decibels, the permissible listening time decreases twice. For example, one person speaks at 50 decibels. If two people speak at the same time, the sound intensity will have increased by three decibels and will now reach 53 decibels, the doctor explains. It is recognized that at a sound intensity of up to 70 decibels, hearing is not damaged, explains the otolaryngologist.

Hearing loss can be irreversible

The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes that noise is the second most important environmental nuisance in the world after environmental pollution. In 2015, the WHO warned that hearing loss was increasing among young people by perceiving noise through headphones for entertainment purposes.

Approximately 1.1 billion adolescents and young people under the age of 35 in the world are exposed to potential sensorineural hearing loss due to excessive exposure to intense sound.

WHO data (for middle- and high-income countries) show that 50% of people in the 25-30 age group are exposed to unsafe noise levels.

“Hearing can gradually be damaged, there can be a constant noise in the ears that lasts a lifetime and is difficult to live with. It is important to be aware that noise-induced hearing loss and hearing loss can be irreversible, so preventive action should be taken to prevent it, ”warns Urtāns.

The research data are convincing

In an effort to understand the potential hearing problems associated with the use of headphones, research is being conducted around the world and important conclusions are being drawn. Urtāns says: “2017. A Swedish study in 2006 found that young people who listen to music at a volume above 85 decibels for more than three hours a day on a daily basis are significantly more likely to experience tinnitus and are more likely to experience hearing loss. It has also been found that 10% of young people who listen to music on headphones do so significantly loudly, or in the sound intensity range from 90 to 100 decibels.

In 2018, a study was conducted in the Netherlands, which involved 3,316 children aged 9 to 12 years. Hearing impairment at high sound frequencies was observed in 14.2% of children.

That’s a big number! The problem is that the child does not feel this hearing loss, gets used to the fact that the hearing threshold is increasing over the years, and it takes a long time for the hearing to start to be impaired. In this group of 14.2%, everyone was diagnosed with a damage to the auditory nerve and its connection with the daily use of headphones. True, the study revealed that there are children who listen to music in headphones every day, but they have not been diagnosed with hearing loss. They may have used the headphones correctly, at a lower volume. ”

What happens to the ears and why is there a risk of hearing damage?

It is important how much time is spent listening to music at a safe volume – the longer it takes at a higher volume, the greater the chance of hearing damage.

“The damage occurs in the hair cells of the auditory snail in the inner ear, which are our hearing receptors – they convert the received mechanical impulse into an electrical impulse. Without damage, the hearing snail can withstand a certain sound load, but the higher the sound intensity, the faster the ears get tired. If this limit is exceeded, damage will gradually begin to form. Similar to the human musculoskeletal system – we can train intensively, but there is a limit to how many muscles can withstand. When the load is too much, the muscles rupture, the tendons and tissues are injured.

The possibilities of the hearing snail are not endless either – when it is overloaded, hemorrhages and injuries occur at the hair cell level. At first, these lesions can still be repaired, but this is not always possible.

How soon the hearing impairment will become irreversible depends on how intensely – for a long time and often – the ears will be exposed to noise, ”explains otolaryngologist Urtāns.

Listening to music on headphones – in moderation

It has been clarified how and how people can listen to headphones in order to avoid fatigue in the inner ear.

“Headphones can achieve high sound intensity – up to 100 decibels. However, the more intense listening we choose, the shorter the time we can listen without hurting ourselves. Music with a sound level of 80 decibels can be listened to for up to about 40 hours a week or an average of less than six hours a day.

As soon as the sound intensity reaches 100 decibels, you can only listen to music for up to 24 minutes a week to avoid hearing damage.

Why is that? The world’s accepted sound intensity step is three decibels. As the sound intensity increases by three decibels, the permissible listening time decreases twice.

For example, one person speaks at 50 decibels. If two people speak at the same time, the sound intensity will have increased by three decibels and will now reach 53 decibels, ”explains the doctor.

It is recognized that at sound intensities up to 70 decibels, hearing is not impaired.

How to use headphones without hearing damage for children and young people?

Here are the recommendations summarized by the otolaryngologist:

• An easy way to understand if someone who listens to music on headphones is doing it safely: if the person standing next to you can hear the music well, the volume in the headphones is definitely too high.

• The WHO’s recommended range is 70 to 83 decibels of sound when listening to headphones for up to eight hours a day. Since some people’s ears may be more susceptible to acoustic injuries than others, a sound healthy compromise would be 75 decibels of sound intensity.

• For modern smartphones (Apple, Samsung) are apps that measure health data, including noise while listening to headphones, and show how much and at what intensity a user has listened to music during the week. You can set the app to receive an alert when you exceed the norm, and also to mute the headset automatically. If, for example, parents do not want their child’s headphones to exceed the healthy 75 decibels, such a limit can be set to ensure proper hearing hygiene. However, without a discussion on this topic also do not do, especially with a teenager. All you have to do is explain the possible risks and justify your actions.

• You can choose ultra-modern headphones that mask the ambient noise. Such headphones are not a cheap pleasure, but they have a useful advantage – they soak up the surrounding noise, but they react when, for example, a person addresses or a dog wakes up. Why are they good? By suppressing ambient noise, you can listen to music better and have less need to listen to it as loudly as possible.

• There is a saying: practice what you preach. This is a useful tip for parents who also use headphones themselves. A positive example must be set in caring for the hearing of the new generation.

• It is important to follow the child’s feelings – you may complain that your ears are beeping or your ears hurt from time to time, or perhaps at some point your child will have an unprecedented dislike for certain noises (metal comes in contact with metal, etc.). Such signs indicate that the ears are noisy and therefore need to be acted upon until it is too late.

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