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"  Some nausea, a little dizziness and a fast-beating heart\u2014these are the things we expect when we stagger out of the seats of a roller coaster. But as the g-forces and adrenalin levels skyrocket, will increased risks of injury also be part of the experience?  A group of physicians from Henry Ford Hospital think so. According to a recent case study of a 24-year old who turned his head to talk to his girlfriend just as the roller coaster plummeted, modern roller coasters may be linked to a common ear injury.  When the physicians from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit peered into the patient&amp;#039;s ear, they saw major bruising of his ear canal and ear drum, known as barotrauma. Such symptoms are commonly seen in patients who experience hard and fast changes in external air pressure relative to the pressure further inside their ear, such as scuba divers, or IED blast survivors.  &amp;quot;We were really surprised by the damage we saw,&amp;quot; says Samer Al-khudari, an ear nose and throat surgeon at Henry Ford Hospital. &amp;quot;As the roller coaster technology continues to advance, the concern is that if we&amp;#039;re seeing these injuries now then what can we expect to see in the future?&amp;quot; He and Kathleen L. Yaremchuk, Chair of the Dept. of Otolaryngology at Henry Ford Hospital are presenting their case study at the Triologocial Society&amp;#039;s 113th Annual Meeting in Las Vegas on April 30th.  The faster the ride moves and the larger the change in altitude, the higher the force that is applied to the ear, Al-khudari says. So when his patient turned his head to the left as the coaster fell, all that air pressure funneled into his right ear canal, striking his ear drum with a force of 0.6 PSI (or pounds per square inch) or about 180 decibels according to his calculations.  In short, his right ear was assaulted by sound pressure levels equivalent to those emitted by a rocket engine or the world&amp;#039;s largest subwoofer, the MTX Jackhammer.  &amp;quot;We&amp;#039;re recommending that you ride roller coasters with your head forward, as they&amp;#039;re meant to be ridden,&amp;quot; Al-khudari says. &amp;quot;If you&amp;#039;re having ear problems it might not be a bad idea to get them checked out.&amp;quot; In this particular case, the patient&amp;#039;s barotraumas had healed within 72 hours.  Roller coasters have come a long way since their humble beginnings as ice slides in Russia 400 years ago. The particular coaster that this patient rode reached speeds of 120 mph within four seconds. Ferrari World&amp;#039;s hydraulically launched F1 Coaster, currently under construction in Abu Dhabi, claims to reach 149 mph, making it the fastest in the world.  Upon closer scientific examination, the risks from a roller coaster ride might not that big of a deal says Bryan Pfister, a biomedical engineer at New Jersey&amp;#039;s Science and Technology University, who recently published a study in the American Journal of Forensic Medical Pathology on roller coaster-induced head motion.  His study found that innocuous activities like plopping down in a chair, or the head thrashing that accompanies pillow fights, are comparable to the assaults of riding a roller coaster.  &amp;quot;We are being exposed to very similar insults all the time: sports, pillow fights, plopping down in a chair, getting in the car everyday,&amp;quot; Pfister says. &amp;quot;And we&amp;#039;re zeroing in on few incidents that are bizarre.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;What we&amp;#039;re questioning is whether this a real threat to the population or if this is a freak accident.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a5670/roller-coaster-hearing-loss/>