Hearing Protection

[BWLover]

I was wondering if it is possible for a person to take hearing protection too far. If a person is constantly using hearing protection, as in ear plugs etc., will this end up in making ones hearing too sensitive to day to day life sound exposure? I've worked a lot of general labour/construction jobs and take hearing protection very seriously. Often I would double up with it and wear ear plugs and ear muffs. And I also take my dB meter with me to a lot of different areas. Such as recently I took it in my girlfriends car and found that on the highway it's about 85-90dB. Which now makes me want to wear ear plugs as it takes about an hour to get into the city. So round trip two hours of 90dB exposure worries me. I am also constantly turning the volume down on the tv or laptop or headphones. I've been doing this for years, and have found that my hearing has actually gotten better/more sensitive. Now, I am a person who takes most things to the extreme. If I continue to over protect my ears, will this have a negative effect on my ears, or will they continue to become more sensitive/better? Thanks people!


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[Chris D]

Good topic. Of course, I (and most everyone else here) am not a doctor. But from my own experience over the years with sound of all different kinds and industry, I think I can emphatically answer NO, being aggressively protective of your hearing will NOT alter your hearing for the worse. The only people I've ever learned about becoming "overly sensitive" to sound have had specific physical or neurological diseases.

As a pilot, I've been very aware of my own hearing over the years. I get it tested at least once a year. Although I'm careful to wear protection anytime I'm flying, like a lot of people I've been to some rather loud concerts over the years and listened to some loud music. Since my early to mid 30's, I've been more careful about music and other loud settings. Saturday night I was in a local club with live music, and found it much better wearing foam plugs. I've always been good about wearing protection around guns, too. Now I own electronic headphones for wearing around shooting, that automatically filters out any sound at a higher db.

Yes, wearing protection will increase your hearing sensitivity. If you fail a hearing test, they'll tell you to come back in a couple days, and avoid loud sound for 24 hours prior. I've worn earplugs for a whole night, and morning while driving in to a hearing test, then took out the plugs right before the test. Did much better on the test.

[madmac]

I personally think hearing protection is very important. Anytime I cut the grass or go into a concert or a loud bar I wear protection. I take it off if the concert/bar is at a reasonable volume (Most often,,,it's not). People who have hearing loss and get a hearing aid will likely not adjust to it well. They are/get used to a quiet world and when their hearing is adjusted to where 'normal' hearing is supposed to be, they reject it. A certain amount of hearing loss is normal as we age. I myself have tinnitus but no apparent hearing loss at this point (I was tested recently). Hearing problems however, are common in my family. My dad was 90% deaf in one of his ears......my sister (Younger than me!) has lost all her hearing in one of her ears and my brother has VERY apparent hearing loss. I've warned my 14 year old daughter to be very careful with her hearing as she will soon be in situations of loud venues and concerts. She is very much at risk of hearing damage because of my family lineage!!. In conclusion, hearing protection is always a good idea!.

[P-Dub]

I have started to wear my ear buds when I go on longer road trips down to the states. I find my car is not that quiet and have measured 85db -90db on highway driving. Short trips, say under an hour I don't bother, but if I know I'm going for longer, then I'll pop in my earbuds and sometimes listen to a pod cast, and sometime just have them in for protection.

One thing about hearing is once you lose that sensitivity it is permanently lost. So protection is paramount. I'm sure I have lost some upper range and I do sometimes listen to some loud music in the car. But other times it is just podcasts through my headphones.

Here is a nice website I just found outlining various noise exposure limits.

http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/phys_agents/exposure_can.html

[Ovation]

I have started to wear my ear buds when I go on longer road trips down to the states. I find my car is not that quiet and have measured 85db -90db on highway driving. Short trips, say under an hour I don't bother, but if I know I'm going for longer, then I'll pop in my earbuds and sometimes listen to a pod cast, and sometime just have them in for protection.

One thing about hearing is once you lose that sensitivity it is permanently lost. So protection is paramount. I'm sure I have lost some upper range and I do sometimes listen to some loud music in the car. But other times it is just podcasts through my headphones.

Here is a nice website I just found outlining various noise exposure limits.

http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/phys_...osure_can.html

Be careful where you drive with headphones (earbuds or other). There are many jurisdictions where you would be subject to a heavy fine if pulled over.

[P-Dub]

That is a very good point!

http://drivinglaws.aaa.com/laws/headsets/

Hmm, I may have to rethink this as I go into Washington state a lot.

[madmac]

Laws are weird that way. Earbuds are prohibited while driving but you can have a 10,000 watt stereo system in your car that can play so loud you couldn't and wouldn't hear a damn thing going on outside anyway!. Talking on cellphones is prohibited but you can have very distracting GPS and other screens on the dash that you have to take your eyes off the road to operate. Don't get it!!??!

[Ovation]

It's actually quite simple. Each of these devices came along at a different time, so laws dealing with their use were written at different times--and once in place, they are hard to modify. Laws about headphones predate earbuds--but there is no room in the law for exceptions unless it is modified. Same with other things. As for GPS and nav screens--they are somewhat (though not entirely) safer in terms of operation because most functions that require more than one button push/screen tap are inaccessible if the car is moving (at least, that's how they are supposed to work). And studies have determined that eating, conversing with someone in the back seat and operating an ordinary radio are just as distracting (if not more so with the first two things) than talking on a cell phone that you are holding in your hand while driving. But no one is going to propose a law to punish people who eat a snack while driving or who talk to their kids who are obliged in most jurisdictions to be in the back of the car.

And "talking tech" is not necessarily a solution. I have a new vehicle and it came with a nav/touch screen operated audio system with handsfree cell phone integration. I can "tell" the device to dial a number, select a track on the CD or the iPhone but it is touchy and not overly reliable. It is less distracting for me to tap a few things on the screen than to "talk" to my radio. Moreover, it can read incoming text messages out loud and provides a list of preset responses (you can customize them) that you can command via voice to send back (however, it is not compatible with my phone, so I don't use that feature). Studies have shown, though, that "talking" email/text readers are actually more distracting than anything else you do except typing a text message and it is nearly as bad as that. It will only be truly "safe" (and even that is relative) when the car can drive itself while you attend to text/email and so on.

[Lex]

good topic. I am in the hearing protection camp. I do tend to watch my hearing, from turning down loud commercials, to wearing noise supression headsets while mowing, or weedeating. Every time, it is not optional. I own 2 or 3 of these AM/FM radio headsets, I always wear them when out in noise outside. I also have ear buds which offer some suppression even not listening to music at work. I also have a set of nicer headphones with active noise cancelling. That provides a nice background hissing to overlay noise in addition to being quiter anyway.

I think you can't do enough to protect your ears, I like some of you, didn't do that when younger, from rock and roll bands, to high school band, to playing drums. I am glad I started thinking about my hearing when I did though, at least I have slowed down long term damage being more protective. I will even plug a finger in my ear closest to big trucks coming by, that sort of thing to protect my ears. I really hate these trains next to my work too, they are horribly loud. Sometimes, I sit in my car and wait for them to pass before getting out. I figure regardless if I am late or not, my ears are more important.

[Chris D]

I'm not quite sure how I developed the ability, but a long time ago I discovered I can clench the muscles around my ears and close off my ear canals, attenuating the sound and providing temporary noise protection. Sometimes I'll do that if my hands are full and can't plug my ears, or something, and there's a loud noise. It's a muscular movement kind of like yawning.

[madmac]

I'm not quite sure how I developed the ability, but a long time ago I discovered I can clench the muscles around my ears and close off my ear canals, attenuating the sound and providing temporary noise protection. Sometimes I'll do that if my hands are full and can't plug my ears, or something, and there's a loud noise. It's a muscular movement kind of like yawning.

Fascinating !!

[Chris D]

yeah... when you're in the middle of a yawn, everything sounds just a bit quieter, right?

[Lex]

When I do a similar thing, it makes a noise in my ears, does it do that to you Chris? It's kind of a white noise, and it is better than a LOUD sound for sure, and muffles it some, even if not stopping it.

[Chris D]

Huh... no, I don't really get any new noise, it's just sound attenuation, like lightly putting my fingers in my ears or something.