The Measurement of SoundĬonsider the volume of a sound, its proximity and your length of exposure when determining how much hearing health damage it may cause, says Dr. Learning more about which decibel levels are safe and which can be harmful can help prevent noise-induced hearing loss and is important to preserving hearing health, says Dr. “A very powerful sound can damage hearing in a short period of time, but many exposures over time to loud sounds also raise the risk of hearing damage.” She advises using hearing protection, whether earplugs or earmuff-type products, on a consistent basis when engaging in noisy activities, such as attending concerts or mowing the lawn. “When we consider whether a noise could be damaging, we think about intensity, but we also think of time,” says Lauren Doolittle, Au.D., a clinical audiologist in Pennsylvania. Noise-induced hearing loss can occur from a single incident, such as firecrackers exploding close to a person’s ear, or it can happen gradually due to repeated exposure to loud sounds over time. Even small increases in sound intensity can damage a person’s fragile inner ear structures and cause hearing loss, says Dr. Rather, it is logarithmic and better represents how changes in sound intensity feel to our ears, explains Jaclyn Schurman, an audiologist and training officer with the NIDCD. However, unlike other measurement units, the decibel scale isn’t linear. The higher the decibel number, the louder the sound is perceived, says Kelly King, Au.D., an audiologist and program officer with the NIDCD. Decibel Levels And Hearing Health: What To Knowĭecibels (dB) are a measurement unit of sound intensity, also referred to as volume, sound power or sound pressure, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD).
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