Hearing center: avoid noise damage
Anyone who has worked for more than a day at any hearing center in the country has known someone who has suffered noise damage. It is one of the most common preventable forms of sensory damage in the country and many people are completely unaware that it exists. Sure, most people know it in a dark way, which would never happen to me. You may have a thought like “God, I’m going to go deaf” when listening to your music at too high a volume, but you probably don’t take it seriously. Few people do it until it is too late.
According to statistics, noise is one of the main reasons why people incur acquired hearing loss. It is estimated that nearly 30 million people in the US suffer from some form of hearing impairment, and many of these people acquired it through totally avoidable means. Unlike other forms of hearing loss, this type of damage is unfortunately permanent. There are no good treatment methods that can restore your ability to hear once it has occurred. This is why it is so important to prevent it in the first place. A hearing center may be able to point you to aids and devices that can make it easier for you to manage your loss, but they cannot point you to a cure.
If you are going to avoid exposure to noise damage, you must know the threshold. Almost everyone is surprised to find out how low that threshold is. This is because we live in a culture of noise and high volumes. We have gotten used to it. But just because we’re used to blaring stereos and our lawn mowers blasting incessantly doesn’t mean the sounds are less damaging to our ears. In fact, the less these volumes “bother” you, the more likely it is that you have already suffered some degree of loss.
When you hear that one sound is 70 decibels and another sound is 80 decibels, you are probably programmed to believe that there is not a huge difference between the two. In reality, however, there is a great gulf. This is because decibels are measured logarithmically, rather than in a set incremental pattern. This simply means that 80 decibels is not just ten steps of 70, the way a volume knob works on your television. Instead, 80 decibels is exactly twice as loud as the sound measured at 70. When you consider that continuous exposure to sound levels above 85 decibels is enough to damage your hearing, it’s easy to see how quickly the damage can occur. . While earplugs are helpful, the best thing to do is avoid those sounds altogether whenever possible.