Yard work tools like power mowers and leaf blowers regularly register sounds over 90 decibels. While the tools we use around our house often seem benign, many of them are capable of toxic levels of noise. While airplane passengers are insulated from noise and most flyover noise occurs at safe distances, you may be exposed to harmful sounds if your home or workplace is close to an airport, especially in the flight path leading to a runway or landing strip. Exposure to loud jet engine noises are some of the loudest sounds we commonly hear. Even greater noise exposure happens on motorcycles, which combine exposure to engine noise and wind noise. Although vehicle traffic creates noise in the safe 60-70 decibel range, riding with open windows at highway speeds can create sound in the 80-90 decibel range for passengers. Heavy duty vehicles like trucks and buses operate at around 90 decibels. Subways and light rails usually operate over 80 decibels and may create noise louder than 110 decibels. Transportation noise can place a strain on your hearing. Much harmful sound comes to us when we are at leisure, or through our appliances or transportation and while workplace noise exposures are mitigated with safety equipment, people often leave their hearing unprotected outside the workplace. You don’t have to be working in a factory to be subject to harmful noise exposure. Sounds under 80 decibels are safe for prolonged exposure but humans start to register sounds as “noisy” typically around the 70-decibel mark. Additionally, noises that register at 150 decibels will rupture a human eardrum. Any noise over 120 decibels, for any length of time, will cause hearing damage and elicit physical pain in your ear. While 85 decibels can cause hearing damage after 8 hours of exposure, 88 decibels begins to permanently affect your hearing after just 4 hours, showing what a huge difference a few decibels can make. This means that as decibel levels raise numerically, sound becomes louder at a greater rate. A sound that is 100 decibels is 16 times as loud as a sound that is 60 decibels (as well as 8 times as loud as 70 decibels, 4 times as loud as 80 decibels and twice as loud as 90 decibels). ![]() A sound that registers as 80 decibels is twice as loud as a sound that is 70 decibels. It’s important to understand that decibel measurements are exponential. According to the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) standards, exposure to 85 decibels for 8 hours or longer can leave someone with irreparable hearing damage 85 decibels is considered the starting level for dangerous noise. ![]() Using decibel levels gives us a few handy thresholds to keep in mind for healthy hearing. What Is A Decibel Level?Ī decibel is a unit that measures the volume or intensity of a sound. To get a better perspective, let’s take a look at how sound is measured and some common sounds that can cause injury to your hearing. Understanding that loud noises are harmful doesn’t always make it easy to recognize when you are at risk for hearing damage. Even short exposure to harmful noise can have permanent ramifications for your hearing. When it comes to protecting your hearing, limiting your exposure to loud noises should be your first step.
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