Each season has its own unique noises. Winter has holiday parties, spring has pouring rain, summer has outdoor costumes and fall has leaf blowers, football games and holiday parties. When the season changes, it’s crucial to remain aware of these sounds and take action to protect your ears when they reach unsafe levels. Let’s take a closer look at how noise can impact your hearing and a few fall noises to safeguard yourself against.
How Does Loud Noise Damage Hearing?
Your ears are finely tuned instruments that bring sound waves from the outer ear to the brain. One part of this process occurs in the inner ear, which contains the cochlea. When sound waves enter the cochlea, they cause the fluid inside to ripple, stimulating thousands of tiny hair cells, which then generate signals that the brain interprets as sound.
When you hear a loud sound, anything over 85 dB, the force of the sound waves can overstress those hair cells, causing them to bend or die. Your hearing will fade as the hair cells die.
Common Sources of Fall Noise
A few common sources of loud fall noise include:
- Leaf blowers. If you’ve ever woken up to a leaf blower early in the morning, you know how loud they can get. A 2019 study on the volume of lawn equipment found that many gas-powered leaf blowers exceeded 95 A-weighted decibels (dBA) to the operator. If you’re going to use a leaf blower, wear earplugs or earmuffs the entire time. You can also try switching to an electric leaf blower, as they tend to be quieter than their gas-powered alternatives.
- Football Games. Whether you like to jump in for a touch football game at Mill Point Park or you’re gearing up for a Hampton Pirates game, the combination of cheers, whistles and scoreboard announcements can get pretty loud. Before heading to your next game, consider bringing a pair of earplugs. You can grab some disposable foam, silicone or high-fidelity earplugs, depending on how often you’ll wear them.
- Parties. The combination of chatter, clinking glasses and music can make fall parties a danger zone for your hearing. Minimize noise by lowering the volume of the music and asking your guests to refrain from shouting.
Don’t let your fall fun cause lasting hearing damage. Contact Hampton Roads ENT ~ Allergy today for more information on protecting your hearing for the long run.