Protect Your Hearing

By Author: George Allen
Total Articles: 4717
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In our quest of protecting every major part of our bodies from harm, we often forget one vital area: our ears. Keeping our hearing as healthy as possible is something a lot of people don’t think about, especially when they have their headphones on and their iPods cranked up. Few people know how loud is too loud, and they can actually damage their hearing themselves.

Sound is measured in decibels. One decibel is a tenth of what is called a bel, or the level a tone is reduced when traveling over 1.6 km of telephone cable. A bel is actually too large for measuring most sounds, so the decibel is more common. Is this important? Actually, yes. It’s important to know how loud some sounds are. A zero decibel sound is illustrated as rustling leavesâ€barely audible. However, a lawnmower puts out 90 decibels. A screaming baby actually outdoes thatâ€they can make sounds that register as 110 decibels. A rock band is only at 120 decibels, and a shotgun blast is so loud it registers at 165 decibels. Being around these noises for a prolonged time can be dangerous.

Studies ...
... have shown that sounds under 80 decibels rarely damage our hearing, even if we’re around them for a long period of time. Of course, not everyone’s hearing is the same, and those with sensitive hearing may experience damage even at low levels. Temporary hearing loss is also possible at almost any decibel level if we hear it continuously. Temporary loss usually goes away after a few days.

Permanent loss, on the other hand, can damage the cilia, or the cells in our inner ear. If they are damaged by excessive noises, they make actually break or tear. While we have many cilia in our ears, they do not grow back or repair themselves. This means that once we’ve damaged our hearing, it’s damaged forever. So far, medical science has not advanced enough to repair cilia, eitherâ€the best you can hope for is a hearing aid.

It used to be that we were rarely subjected to noises that could damage our hearing on a daily basis, but in some of today’s workplaces, we’re often exposed to over 85 decibels of noise in a standard workday. Those who work in construction, agriculture, and in the oil industry often find themselves required to wear earplugs or noise canceling devices during the day to protect their hearing. Even those who work in an office are exposed to some loud noises such as printers, fax machines, and telephones.

It’s very important to do everything you can to protect your hearing because, as stated above, once it’s gone, it’s gone. Use earplugs when you know you’ll be around loud noises. Cover your ears if you have to walk past a jackhammer or other loud piece of equipment. Finally, don’t do the damage yourself: keep your headphones turned down to a reasonable level.
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