Skip to content

Sheila Pantry Associates Ltd

Focus

Focus Archive

World Hearing Day – 3 March 2017

March 2017

Don’t let loud noise damage your hearing, learn how to protect your hearing now!

Everyday sounds typically do not damage your hearing. However, many people participate in activities that produce harmful sound levels, such as attending loud sporting events and music concerts, and using power tools, which repeated over time will cause hearing loss. Loud sound (noise) can damage sensitive parts of the ear, causing hearing loss, ringing or buzzing in the ear (tinnitus), and increased sensitivity to sound (hyperacusis). Repeated exposure to loud noise over the years affects how well you hear later in life and how quickly you develop hearing problems, even after exposure has stopped.

Noise (sound) is all around us – at school, at home, at work, and all the places in between. It is everywhere we go.

So Listen Up! Protect your hearing!

To protect your hearing, use earplugs – and try to avoid loud noises.

To help you how to do this – check out the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention – the National Centre for Environmental Health (US CDC NCEH) that offers advice and guidance on their website www.cdc.gov/features/hearing-damage

Loudness is measured in what’s called decibels (dB). Over time, any sound that’s 85 decibels or higher can cause hearing loss – or other hearing problems, like tinnitus (a ringing sound in your ears that won’t go away). The louder a sound is, and the longer you listen to it, the more it can damage your hearing.

The website also includes a noise meter www.cdc.gov/nceh/hearing_loss/infographic so you can hear how loud different sounds are – and how you can protect your ears.

Pick a type of sound to see about how loud it is, and get tips to keep your ears safe around noises at that level. You can stop hearing loss!