Hearing Awareness Week is 20-26th August in Australia. Approximately 17% of Australians and 20% of Americans are believed to have a hearing loss. For 37% of Australians with hearing loss, exposure to loud noise contributed to the hearing loss (Wilson, 1998).
Noise Destroys
Loud noise causes permanent hearing loss. Any noise over 85 decibels (dB) can damage your hearing. The louder a noise is, the less time it takes to do damage.
Just 15 minutes in a nightclub where the music is 100 decibels can damage your hearing. Gunfire at 110 dB can damage your hearing after just a minute!
What about your MP3 player? The maximum volume of some music players is 103 dB, so you can damage your hearing in under 4 minutes if you play music at maximum volume.
Why Should You Care?
Relationships: Hearing plays a huge role in our social lives and relationships. Hearing loss muffles and distorts voices, especially when there is background noise. Relationships suffer when you cannot hear. People with hearing loss may start to avoid social situations and can become isolated and depressed.
Work: Hearing is vital in many work environments. How would a hearing loss affect your work?
Study: Learning can be more difficult when you cannot hear well in class.
Music: Do you enjoy listening to music? Hearing loss changes the way you hear music. It can become distorted and less enjoyable.
Tinnitus: You know that ringing noise that you get in your ears after you have been listening to a loud sound? That is called tinnitus. When you expose your ears to loud sound over and over again, that noise can become permanent.
Protect Yourself
Wear Hearing Protection: Hearing protection reduces the amount of noise that your ears are exposed to. They do not cut out all noise, but they bring noise levels down to a safe volume. Ear plugs can be custom made so that they fit your ear perfectly. Music does not sound the same when you wear standard ear plugs. Music ear plugs use filters to make music sound better than standard ear plugs.
Limit Noise Exposure: You can also protect your hearing by avoiding loud noise, and by limiting the amount of time you spend in noisy environments.
Volume Control: Don't listen to music at loud volumes.
Once It's Gone You Can't Get It Back
Permanent hearing loss is, well... permanent. Your hearing is important, so it's worth protecting.
Thanks for reading...
I am an audiologist and am eager to share my knowledge. If you have a question about hearing, please let me know. I am happy to help.
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👂~ Seajai