We are surrounded by noise in our everyday existence. Our environment—from commute sounds and lawnmowers to music via earbuds—is increasingly loud. Such loud conditions can negatively impact your hearing if you fail to be cautious. As October marks National Protect Your Hearing Month, it serves as an excellent period to review how to keep safe this critical sense.
How to preserve your hearing: 8 key methods
Luckily, some simple measures exist that allow you to insulate your hearing from routine environmental sounds. Here are eight key tips to preserve your hearing.
1. Become familiar with noise levels and their impact
The most important action for averting auditory damage is to recognize when a sound level becomes hazardous. The volume of various sounds is measured in decibels (dB), and being exposed to them for too long can cause lasting hearing impairment. Consult this brief summary:
- Sounds like heavy traffic or lawn mowers (85–90 dB) can be tolerated safely for a maximum of 2 hours.
- Exposure to 100 dB sounds, such as those from construction equipment or motorcycles, risks hearing damage in only 15 minutes.
- Noises exceeding 110 dB (e.g., explosions, fireworks) can lead to immediate damage in just seconds.
Taking a proactive approach to noise awareness can help you avoid environments that are dangerous to your ears.
2. Measure sound levels yourself
Curious about how loud your environment really is? You can easily gauge it using your smartphone. There are many free applications that function as sound meters, allowing you to assess surrounding noise levels. The key to getting exact data is to take the measurement from the distance you normally maintain from the origin of the sound.
Regular use of this monitoring tool can improve your understanding of your surroundings, leading to smarter choices about hearing protection.
3. Don’t crank up the volume on your devices
One of the most frequent causes of gradual hearing damage is enjoying music or podcasts at volumes that are too high. Despite their practicality, headphones and earbuds often mask certain risks. It’s noteworthy that many headphones can reach 100 dB, a level that can induce hearing loss in only 15 minutes of use.
Today, over a billion young people are at risk of hearing loss from using earbuds at high volumes. To protect your ears, never turn your earbuds above 50% of their maximum volume. The need to increase the volume past this point to hear suggests that you may already have some hearing damage.
4. Never try to use music to drown out loud noise
If you live in a noisy neighborhood or frequently work in loud environments, it might be tempting to use headphones to block out the background sound. However, turning the volume high enough to overpower the noise outside is dangerous for your hearing. Instead, consider using noise-canceling headphones, which allow you to enjoy your music or podcasts at a much lower, less hazardous volume. If you don’t have noise-canceling headphones, earplugs can be an effective alternative.
5. Always use earplugs in loud environments
For anyone regularly attending loud environments—whether at concerts, sporting events, or while operating heavy machinery—earplugs are a must. Since they are small, affordable, and easy to transport, earplugs offer an uncomplicated but powerful means of hearing protection.
If you use them often, custom-fitted earplugs can be obtained, offering improved protection and a better fit than off-the-shelf versions. You should always use them in all environments that are loud.
6. Follow safety recomendations at work
When your work necessitates being near loud machinery or equipment, you must strictly follow all safety procedures for hearing protection. Be cautious because some jobs may ignore the risks; individuals claiming “it’s not that loud” could be suffering from major hearing loss and thus misjudging the true noise level. You should protect your hearing by wearing the necessary protective gear and abiding by the safety rules.
7. Move further away from loud noise
The most effective means of hearing protection can often be just moving back from the source of the loud sound. By increasing distance, the sound intensity reaching your ears is lessened, which helps reduce damage. As an illustration, a noise source at 110 dB will be reduced to roughly 100 dB if you stand 20 feet away—a level that allows for up to 15 minutes of safe exposure.
Consider fireworks as a relevant illustration. While a firework explosion registers at 150 dB, if you are close to where it launches, the sound can still surpass 120 dB, which can cause instant harm. You can still enjoy the display at a safer level, below 100 dB, by being 2,000 feet away (the length of about five football fields).
8. Address existing hearing loss promptly
Should you already be dealing with hearing loss, it is imperative that you take action so it doesn’t get worse. This kind of impairment will not resolve itself; it only gets worse. Particularly, almost 10% of adults aged 55 to 64 suffer from major hearing loss, with the rates rising considerably among older demographics.
When initial signs of hearing loss are disregarded, it only causes the condition to progress faster. On average, people wait 7 years too long to get treatment. By consulting a hearing specialist sooner and investigating treatments such as hearing aids, you maximize the potential for retaining your existing hearing.
Act now for better hearing
The observance of National Protect Your Hearing Month serves as an great time to place a high value on your auditory well-being. These simple actions can have a significant impact, regardless of whether you’re seeking to prevent future harm or you’ve already suffered some hearing loss.
Schedule a hearing test today and take charge of your hearing health before it’s too late.