For many of us, our hearing comes without a second thought. Some noises are loud, and some are soft. The most we might do is cover our ears if a noise is too loud, and carry on through unless we are somewhere we have been conditioned to think about hearing safety in.
While we may know to wear hearing protection before going to a gun range, there are a few other places we really should be wearing hearing protection and sometimes don’t. Here are 3 places you should really consider wearing hearing protection.
At a Football Match
Sure you might feel a little silly with ear plugs in at the next big game, but these exciting matches can do a number on your ears. Football matches can reach 130dB. That’s well above the paltry 85dB needed for hearing loss to begin.
Cheer as loud as you want and go ahead and scream when your favourite player scores a goal, but do it safely by protecting your ears.
In Your Home
No, you don’t need to have full hearing protection when you’re running the vacuum or the dishwasher (It comes well under the safety level at 70dB for the vacuum and 80 for the dishwasher) but you might want to turn the radio down even if you can’t hear it over your noisy machines. A radio playing at full volume comes in at an ear splitting 110dB. That’s higher than the music played at nightclubs, which are also dangerously high at 105dB.
While Doing The Yard Work
Have you ever set out to mow the lawn and wondered if the roar of the lawnmower was damaging your hearing? While a push mower is on the cusp of hearing loss at a dB in the low 80s, a chainsaw sails clear over the safety threshold. If you’re planning to cut down a tree or section a log, you’ll want to wear hearing protection while you do it. If you’re not sure about the power tool you’re using, it’s worth looking up the dB real quick, or just wearing hearing protection anyway to be safe.
Stuck in Traffic
It may surprise you to learn that if you are surrounded by heavy city traffic for long periods of time, it could impact your hearing. Traffic noises don’t hurt, so it’s easy to tune it out as just noise, but long term it will grind on your hearing. Unfortunately there isn’t a lot you can do in your car, as you need to be able to listen for sirens.
Hearing loss can come from a surprising number of places. It’s easy to ignore these things our just power through them, but you can endure permanent hearing loss as a result. There’s no going back or healing your ears once the damage is already done. When in doubt, protect your ears and remember that protecting your ears even for the little things can make a huge difference in preserving your hearing for years to come. So, the next time you find yourself in a loud environment, whether it be at a football match, doing yard work, or even just at home listening to music, don’t hesitate to grab a pair of earplugs or earmuffs.
The significance of using hearing protection goes beyond just safeguarding against hearing loss. Research has indicated that prolonged exposure to loud sounds can also result in other health issues, including increased stress levels, disturbances in sleep patterns, and even cardiovascular problems. By taking proactive measures and shielding our ears, we can effectively minimise the risks associated with these potential health complications.
It is important to recognize that hearing loss often occurs gradually and may go unnoticed until it becomes a substantial issue. By consistently utilizing hearing protection in noisy environments, we can prevent the gradual depreciation of our auditory abilities and ensure that we uphold good ear health for many years to come.
To help better look after your hearing, have a look at out this interesting infographic from Age UK: The Sounds That Will Damage Your Hearing.
Zoom Health is a leading UK supplier of Home Health Tests and Earplugs
This post was originally published in 2017. It was last updated in July 2023.
