Protecting Your Hearing
Hearing loss from exposure to loud sounds is painless, progressive and permanent. The good news is through protection and limiting your exposure to loud sound levels, you can prevent hearing damage.
Hearing damage has been noted to occur when sounds exceed 85 decibels (dB). When dealing with noises over this range it is important to protect your ears with the use of ear protection. It is recommended to use ear protection while being around the following noises.
- Motorcycles, hair dryers, lawn mowers and leaf blowers (85-100dB)
- Woodshops, chainsaws, small firecrackers (100-110dB)
- Rock concerts (100-120dB)
- Ambulance sirens, jet engines at close range (119-140dB)
If you notice the following symptoms after exposure to loud sounds, you may be over-exposed and could potentially be causing long-term damage:
- Voices suddenly sound muffled and are hard to understand.
- You experience ringing, buzzing or fluttering in one or both ears (otherwise known as tinnitus).
- Your ears hurt after being in a loud place.
- Your hearing is suddenly super sensitive to noise.
*If any of these symptoms last longer than a day, you should visit your doctor, Ear, Nose and Throat specialist or audiologist.
*Information from House Ear Institute
Permissible Exposure Chart:
The following chart shows the recommended permissible exposure time for continuous noise without using ear protection.
| Continuous dB Permissible Exposure Time | ||
|---|---|---|
85 dB |
8 hours | |
88 dB |
4 hours | |
91 dB |
2 hours | |
94 dB |
1 hour | |
97 dB |
30 minutes | |
100 dB |
15 minutes | |
103 dB |
7.5 minutes | |
106 dB |
3.75 minutes | |
109 dB |
less than 2 minutes | |
112 dB |
50 seconds | |
115 dB |
less than 30 seconds | |
*Information from www.dangerousdecibels.org
It is important to monitor your personal hearing health through periodic hearing tests. Please call our office today to schedule a hearing test: (208) 658-0238.
Click here for more information about different types of ear protection.