When to Establish Hearing Protection?
- Air molecules vibrate to produce sound. When this sound reaches your ears, it strikes the eardrum. The eardrum vibrates and transfers the sound to hair cells and nerves. The nerves convert sound into an electrical signal that the brain can interpret. These hair cells respond to even the most sensitive sounds. The NIDCD (reference 1) explains that sounds 10 decibels louder have 10 times intensity in vibration, but your brain only interprets it to be twice as loud. Therefore, loud sounds can damage the auditory nerves even if you're not aware of it.
- Hearing damage happens from prolonged exposure to sound or short-term exposure to extremely loud sound. Earplugs prevent hearing damage by blocking out some of the vibrations that produce sound. If you have to shout to be heard at arm's length, background noise has reached potentially dangerous levels, according to The Earplug Company (reference 2). At levels of 85 decibels or above, you should wear hearing protection. Lawnmowers, street traffic and shop machinery reach approximately this level.
