Wearing hearing protectors can help prevent damage from both moderate and loud noise. Most cases of noise-induced hearing loss are caused by repeated exposure to moderate levels of noise over many years, not by a few cases of very loud noise. Other sounds seem muffled after you leave an area where there is loud sound.

Your ears are ringing after hearing the sound.You have difficulty talking or hearing others talk over the sound.Preventing damage to your hearingĪn easy way to become aware of potentially harmful noise is to pay attention to warning signs that a sound might be damaging to your hearing. Hearing protectors reduce the loudness of sound reaching the ears, making it possible to listen to louder sounds for a longer time. Sports crowd, rock concert, loud symphonyĪs loudness increases, the amount of time you can hear the sound before damage occurs decreases. Heavy traffic, window air conditioner, noisy restaurant, power lawn mower In general, sounds above 85 are harmful, depending on how long and how often you are exposed to them and whether you wear hearing protection, such as earplugs or earmuffs.įollowing is a table of the decibel level of a number of sounds. Normal conversation is about 60 dB, a lawn mower is about 90 dB, and a loud rock concert is about 120 dB. (Frequency means how low or high a tone is.) But any sound that is loud enough and lasts long enough can damage hearing and lead to hearing loss.Ī sound's loudness is measured in decibels (dB). Some people's ears are more sensitive to loud sounds, especially at certain frequencies. The effects of noise on hearing vary among people.

Loud gunshot sound effect