We are enveloped by noise in our everyday existence. Whether it’s lawnmowers, heavy traffic, or our own headphones, the aural world has intensified. Such loud conditions can compromise your hearing if awareness is lacking. As October marks National Protect Your Hearing Month, it serves as an ideal period to review how to keep safe this critical sense.
8 actionable steps to protect your hearing
It’s a relief that uncomplicated actions can be implemented to shield your ears from the ambient noise you encounter daily. The following are eight core recommendations for protecting your hearing health.
1. Grasp noise levels and their impact
To begin preventing hearing loss, you must know when noise intensity is too loud to tolerate. The volume of various sounds is measured in decibels (dB), and being exposed to them for too long can cause lasting hearing impairment. A fast summary is below:
- Sounds like heavy traffic or lawn mowers (85–90 dB) can be tolerated safely for a maximum of 2 hours.
- At 100 dB (e.g., motorcycles, construction machinery), hearing damage can begin after only 15 minutes.
- Over 110 dB: Fireworks, gunshots, explosions – Instant damage can happen after just a few seconds.
By being proactive about how loud your surroundings are, you can effectively stay away from settings that are harmful to your auditory health.
2. Determine sound levels yourself
Are you interested in discovering the true loudness of your environment? A smartphone makes checking sound levels easy. You can download various complimentary sound meter applications to evaluate the noise in your vicinity. The key to getting exact data is to take the measurement from the distance you usually maintain from the origin of the sound.
Using this feature regularly can help you better interpret your environment and make informed decisions about protecting your hearing.
3. Keep the volume down on your devices
A significant way people negatively affect their hearing over time is by using their devices at loud volume settings. Despite their practicality, headphones and earbuds often conceal certain risks. Many headphones, for instance, are capable of reaching volumes over 100 dB, which means hearing loss can occur in as little as 15 minutes.
Because they listen with earbuds at high volumes, more than a billion young people worldwide are currently facing a risk of hearing loss. To be safe, keep your earbud volume below 50% of its full potential to protect your hearing. Having to increase the volume past this point to hear suggests that you may already have some hearing damage.
4. Avoid using music to drown out background noise
For those who reside in loud areas or work in noisy settings, the urge to use headphones to overpower the ambient sound can be strong. It is actually harmful to increase the volume excessively just to override external noise. A better alternative is to use noise-canceling headphones, as they let you listen to music or podcasts at a far lower and safer volume. Should noise-canceling headphones not be an option, simple earplugs are a viable alternative.
5. When in noisy settings, use earplugs
For anyone often in loud environments—whether at concerts, sporting events, or while operating heavy machinery—earplugs are a must. They are a highly effective yet simple hearing protection solution, being compact, inexpensive, and portable.
Individuals who use earplugs often can obtain custom-fitted ones, which give superior protection and comfort compared to standard types. Never fail to use earplugs when you are in a noisy location.
6. Follow safety recommendations at work
critically, if your occupation exposes you to loud machinery or equipment, you must ensure you follow the established safety guidelines for auditory protection. Be wary because some jobs may discount the risks; individuals claiming “it’s not that loud” could be suffering from major hearing loss and thus misjudging the true noise level. It is vital to protect your hearing by wearing the necessary protective gear and abiding by the safety rules.
7. Distance yourself from loud noise
Frequently, the best strategy for safeguarding your ears is merely to put distance between yourself and the noise. Distance reduces the intensity of sound impacting your ears, helping to minimize 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.
The example of fireworks is instructive. 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. By sitting 2,000 feet away (roughly five football fields), you can enjoy the show at a safer level below 100 dB.
8. Address existing hearing loss promptly
If you’ve already noticed hearing loss, it’s vital to act before it worsens. Hearing loss doesn’t go away on its own; it progresses. Nearly 1 in 10 adults between the ages of 55 and 64 has significant hearing loss, and those numbers rise sharply in older age.
Ignoring the early symptoms of hearing loss only speeds up its progression. Typically, individuals delay seeking professional assistance by a full 7 years. By consulting a hearing specialist sooner and exploring treatments such as hearing aids, you significantly improve the potential for retaining your existing hearing.
Take action today
The observance of National Protect Your Hearing Month is an opportune time to place a high value on your auditory well-being. These easy-to-follow actions can have a major impact, regardless of whether you’re seeking to avert future harm or you’ve already suffered some hearing loss.
book a hearing test now and gain control over your hearing health before the opportunity is gone.