Hearing Center - The Danger of Underestimating Everyday Volumes

Even those who work at a hearing center are often guilty of underestimating how little volume it takes to damage a person's ears. We live in a world filled with loud noises, so it's hardly any wonder that we take it for granted. But we get accustomed to thing all the time that aren't necessarily very good for our health. We expose ourselves to too much sunlight, helpings of food that are far too large, and, indeed, noises that are much too loud. If you think protecting your ears is just a matter of turning down the iPod, you might be surprised.

Both the federal government and various American health organizations implore the population to be aware of how much noise they are subjecting their ears to. Even the professionals at a hearing center can advise customers about how much unneeded and potentially dangerous cacophony they are exposed to on a daily basis. It isn't only about rock concerts, loud televisions, and personal music players. Even the typical sounds of a metropolitan city can easily reach decibel levels that will cause damage over time.

If there were no steps one could take to protect themselves from this noise, warning people of the dangers would be useless. Thankfully, there are measures you can take. But first, you need to be aware of the dangers themselves. It's easy to take all of this noise for granted. Constant horn honking, vacuum cleaners, industrial sounds, and lawn mowers are the sounds of our world. But our ears evolved in a time where such noises would have been impossible. An elephant might make sounds that could potentially harm our ears, but few of our ancestors would have spent their days listening to the bleating of a bull elephant. By contrast, most of us do spend our days listening to volumes that can cause degradation in our auditory senses.

When you think about the decibel scale, something being heard at 60 decibels may not seem like a lot. And if something is at 70 decibels, well, that's only ten points higher, right? What you have to understand, however, is that each increase of ten points is actually a doubling of the previous number. That means that something at 70 decibels is actually twice as loud as something at 60. It's easy, then, to see why listening to something at 60 decibels is perfectly fine for our ears, but listening to something at 80 or 100 can be very harmful. To give you some sense of scale, a lawn mower typically registers around the 100 mark. By avoiding loud environments, wearing ear plugs when you have to be in them, and turning down the volume on your music, you can protect your ears and avoid a trip to the hearing center.