Hearing loss is not just a part of getting older; sometimes, it is preventable. You can prevent hearing loss that is caused by exposure to loud noises. To stop loud noises from damaging your hearing permanently, you can do the following:

Be Careful When Listening to Music

Headphones and earphones are some of the biggest causes of hearing loss nowadays. You can protect your hearing by doing the following:

  • Turn up the volume to a comfortable level but no higher
  • Do not wear your headphones or earphones for longer than an hour at a time. Give your ears 5 minutes to rest per hour.
  • Instead of turning up the volume to cancel outside noise, consider investing in noise-cancelling headphones.
  • You should not listen to music at more than sixty percent of the full volume. If your device has settings that allow you to limit the volume, you should use them.
  • Turning down the volume by a little bit can help to protect your ears and prevent hearing loss in future.

Take Precautions at Work

Does your workplace expose you to loud noises? You should consider speaking to the human resource manager to find a good solution. Your employer can make the following changes to protect your hearing:

  • Provide hearing protection devices such as earplugs and earmuffs
  • Buy quieter equipment
  • Ensure that you are not exposed to any loud noises for more than an hour at a time

Avoid Loud Noises

You can prevent noise-induced hearing loss by avoiding loud noises. To find out whether a noise is loud enough to damage your hearing, use the following criteria:

  • The noise hurts your ears
  • You cannot hear what people close to you are saying
  • You have to raise your voice for other people to hear what you are saying
  • You have muffled hearing or ringing in your ears afterwards

Decibels, is the unit used to measure noise levels. Any sound that measures over 85dB is harmful for your hearing, especially if you expose yourself to it for a long duration. Here are some references for noise levels:

  1. Whispering – 30dB
  2. Conversation – 60dB
  3. Busy traffic – 70 to 85dB
  4. Motorbike – 90dB
  5. Listening to music on your earphones at full volume – 100 to 110 dB
  6. Planes taking off – 120dB

To figure out the safe noise levels, you should download phone apps that measure noise. However, you need to ensure that they are calibrated properly.

Protect Your Hearing during Activities

When attending loud events, you can protect your ears by:

  • Taking a break from the noise every fifteen minutes
  • Wearing earplugs that can reduce volume without muffling the music
  • Move away from the source of the loud noise
  • After exposing your ears to loud noise, you should give your ears 18 hours to recuperate.

Get Hearing Tested

If you are worried about your hearing, you should get a hearing test as soon as possible. The earlier your hearing loss is detected, the earlier you can do something about it. You might end up needing auditory devices such as hearing aids in Southern California.

If you work in a noisy environment, consider scheduling an annual hearing test. This way, you can monitor your hearing over time. If you notice that your hearing is deteriorating, you can do something to change your environment before you suffer from permanent hearing loss.

Conclusion

Hearing is an important part of you. Unfortunately, most of us take it for granted until it is too late. Follow the above tips to prevent suffering from noise-induced hearing loss.

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