Some Fun Things Lead to Hearing Loss

Many hearing aid practitioners and audiologists can tell you that hearing loss can happen for a number of reasons. Some of the common ones, like loud rock concerts at 115 decibels are understandable, but others might surprise you. Anytime you are exposed to sound levels over 85 decibels, you are above the safety threshold for safe hearing. In fact, more young people than ever are exposed to the constant loud noise that exceeds the safe threshold and comes from ear buds stuck in their ears from MP3 players and iPods, but that can seem more obvious than other harmful things that seem like fun.


Take for example, riding in a convertible with the top down. The wind blowing in your hair and ears, hopefully, it isn't causing you to go deaf before your time. You have to think about the excessive noise of the wind whipping at 70 miles per hour and the road noise vibrations to realize the velocity and decibel level that reaches 89 in testing, above the 85 decibel threshold. In fact, recent studies done in Britain have found that high speed convertible riding can lead to permanent hearing loss that never returns to previous levels over a period of time, 3 hours and 10 minutes to be exact.

It is even worse for those that like to ride motorcycles, especially in the states that don't have a helmet law where they have the loud noises of the bikes, especially louder motorcycles like Harleys and the wind factor with road noise to consider. If you consider many of these bikers will go on rides cross country, it is obvious that they will pass the maximum time of 3 hours before hearing loss is irreversible. Some of the concerned motorcyclists will wear helmets for safety reasons and other will wear them to protect hearing, including ear plugs that still allow them hear the honking of car horns.

The important thing to consider is that there are a lot of fun things you do that have sounds louder than the safe level of 85 decibels. Normal conversations occur around 60 decibels, but other things that aren't so fun that you do every week around your home, like mowing the lawn can generate 100 decibels, while vacuuming your floor can generate 90 decibels. When you think about the everyday noise you are exposed to, it is scary to think about the hearing loss that has been occurring over time. Even children screaming and throwing a tantrum can damage your hearing over a period of time.

So what does this all mean? It means you should protect your hearing whenever you can. Wearing foam disposable ear plugs can help and avoiding prolonged periods of loud noise is the best prevention, but when you consider all of the appliances around your home that cause noises over the 85 decibels, you would be surprised how much exposure you get on a daily basis. Blow dryers, blenders, leaf blowers, and things you might not think about can damage hearing over a period of time. Wearing ear plugs can help protect hearing when you can't prevent the exposure.