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Does hearing continue to deteriorate after exposure to noise stops?
Hearing Loss | Last Active: Mar 22 2:28pm | Replies (63)Comment receiving replies
i must ask again- because no one answer and a self-story is not an answer - sorry - Is there a difference, regarding the continued deterioration in hearing, between acoustic damage resulting from a sudden noise (explosion for example) and which has not disappeared,
And permanent acoustic sabotage after several years of exposure to noise and the hearing deterioration continues though slowly?
Replies to "i must ask again- because no one answer and a self-story is not an answer -..."
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This information from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Center for Disease Control (CDC) may be of interest. https://www.hearingloss.org/hearing-help/hearing-loss-basics/prevention/
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
A major cause of hearing loss in our society is noise exposure. Tiny hair cells in the ear are damaged when assaulted by loud noise. Once those hair cells are destroyed they cannot be replaced.
How Loud is Too Loud?
According to NIDCD’s Noisy Planet website, “The impact of noise adds up over a lifetime. If you are exposed to loud sounds on a regular basis, your risk for permanent damage increases over time. Even a single but long-lasting loud event can cause damage. Limit your exposure to sounds at or above 100 decibels to no more than 15 minutes, and limit sounds that are at or above 110 decibels to no more than 1 minute.”
Watch this video by the CDC about how loud noise damages hair cells.
Repeated and lengthy exposure to loud sound – whether is it music or a jackhammer – will eventually produce a sensorineural hearing loss. See the NIDCD Listen Up! Inforgraphic (text version available). Also see the Dangerous Decibels’ Decibel Exposure Time Guidelines.
How to Reduce the Damage to Hearing from Noise
Your ears can be your warning system for potentially dangerous noises. The noise is too loud when:
You have to raise your voice to be understood by someone standing nearby
The noise hurts your ears
You develop a buzzing or ringing sound in your ears, even temporarily (indicates some hair cells have died)
You don’t hear as well as you normally do until several hours after you get away from the noise.
How to Protect Yourself When Around Loud Noise
Block the noise (wear earplugs or earmuffs)
Avoid the noise (put hands over ears if you can’t walk away)
Turn down the volume
Protecting Kids’ Hearing
Get your children involved in their own hearing health. For more resources, go to:
It’s a Noisy Planet: Protect Their Hearing, NIDCD, National Institutes of Health
Listen to Your Buds, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
Turn it to the Left, American Academy of Audiology