Everyday Sounds That Can Hurt Your Hearing

Hearing loss is rarely something that happens overnight. Usually, your hearing gradually gets worse, and there are lots of things that can affect it. As any audiologist can tell you, one of the common causes of hearing loss is exposure to loud or damaging sounds.

When you’re told this, it’s easy to think about thunderous noises – like sounds at a concert, or a loud bang. But, there are plenty of everyday sounds that can hurt your hearing as well. Keeping that in mind, here are some familiar sounds you need to be wary of as they can lead to hearing loss: 

Music

If you listen to music, then you put yourself at risk of gradual hearing loss. Of course, it depends on the volume of the music, and how you’re listening to it. Keep the volume at a reasonable level, and you won’t see any problems.

Hearing issues occur when you turn the volume up beyond a safe range – particularly when you’re also wearing headphones. A lot of smartphones and mobile devices notify you when the volume is too loud, so you should listen to their warnings! Loud music is made more dangerous because you listen to it for a long time. Many of you can spend over an hour listening to music, which causes lots of damage to your ears.

Consequently, it’s crucial to take steps towards hearing protection here. The simple thing to do is turn the volume on your music down. Never go into the danger zones, and give your ears a break every now and then. If you play a musical instrument, then there are special hearing protection devices you can put in your ears that let you hear what you’re playing while softening the sound of the music.

Traffic and transport sounds

The world throws up lots of potentially damaging sounds for your ears. One walk down the street will expose you to loads of different noises that can harm your hearing. Traffic and transport sounds are some of the worst you will encounter.

Here, we’re talking about the sound of car engines, horns beeping, subway cars screeching, motorcycles, police and ambulance sirens, etc. All of these noises are way too loud – and you hear them way too often. You don’t need to be an audiologist to know that this will eventually lead to hearing loss.

Thankfully, there are hearing protection measures to take. It’s a good idea to wear protective earplugs or earmuffs when you’re out and about. This muffles the dangerous sounds and stops them from damaging the inner workings of your ears.

Household appliances

Believe it or not, but some of the appliances in your home will hurt your ability to hear as well. Most of these things are in your kitchen; blenders, food processors, dishwashers, dryers. But, there are other appliances as well – like a handheld blow dryer, your vacuum cleaner, and so on.

There are arguably the most damaging sounds because we don’t treat them as such. No one bats an eye when you turn on a blender or do the vacuuming. It doesn’t occur to us that we might be damaging our hearing! But, appliances can be far too loud for our ears to handle, causing damage that can’t be repaired.

Again, you can solve this by arming yourself with hearing protection whenever you use these appliances. Plug your ears with protective earplugs, and the issue will be resolved.

Construction noises

No matter where you go, there will always be a construction site nearby. If you live in a busy city, then this issue is even worse for you. Construction sites can cause hearing loss because they create so much noise. If your neighbors are having work done on their house, then you could be subjected to constant construction sounds for weeks on end. You can easily pass multiple construction sites on your daily commute; each one louder than the last.

Construction noises can hurt your hearing as they’re far too loud. The main culprits are power tools and the equipment they use. Ironically, it’s clear that these tools create dangerously loud noises as the operators will be wearing hearing protection!

Learn from them and wear some sort of hearing protection on your daily commute. Or, try and find ways of avoiding construction sites – though this might not be possible for you.

Contact us to learn more

As you can see, there are so many everyday sounds that might contribute to hearing loss. So, if you want advice on hearing protection and how to look after your hearing health, then feel free to get in touch with us today. At Audiology Associates, we offer different hearing loss treatments to ensure you enjoy life at full volume. Call us at 573-332-7000 to learn more about how we can help.