The Sound of Photos Series No. 6: “MAKE SOME NOISE!!”

This year’s Super Bowl was a sleeper, but it doesn’t take a championship game to rock the rafters in noise level.

For many people, the sounds of a sporting event are part of the experience. People want or even crave the sound of cars racing around a track or the collective rumble of fans cheering or chanting when their team has a great play. To appreciate just how loud sporting events can be here are some record-breaking facts:

The loudest sporting event ever: On September 29, 2014 the loudest crowd roar was recorded at a Kansas City Chiefs game, at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. The roar clocked in at 142.2dB and was recorded with eight seconds remaining in the first quarter.

The loudest college sporting event: In 1992, during a game between the Nebraska Huskers and the Washington Huskies, a whopping 133.6dB sound level was recorded at Husky Stadium. According to Wikipedia.com, Husky Stadium has long been recognized as one of the loudest stadiums in the nation. This is in part due to the stadium’s design; almost 70 percent of the seats are located between the end zones, covered by cantilevered metal roofs that trap the sound.

The loudest crowd-roar at an indoor sporting event: Fans attending the Sacramento Kings vs. Detroit Pistons game at Sleep Train Arena on November 15, 2013 certainly got an earful. Screaming fans achieved a 126dB sound level during a fourth quarter timeout.

To put that into perspective, the sound level of an aircraft carrier flight deck is averaged at 130 dB.

Unprotected exposure to sound levels this loud, though perhaps exciting in the moment, comes with a price: damage to your hearing. In fact, exposure to a sound that is 120dB or louder causes immediate damage

It’s important to point out that most sporting events don’t always clock in at these extremely loud levels but they are still very loud and can be hazardous to your hearing. To figure out if you are at risk, you must consider two things: the loudness level and how long you may be exposed to it. Do you know how loud your favorite sporting event is? Probably not, so here are some sound-level ranges for popular sporting events as reported from the Noise Navigator Sound Level Database.

Professional Sporting Event                                      Loudness Level in dB

Basketball                                                                                       99-118
Football                                                                                           91-81
Soccer                                                                                              100
Car Race (Formula One, Nascar, Stock)                                    90-115
Baseball                                                                                           85-107
Hockey                                                                                             99-103

Now, think about how much time you spend at these events and keep in mind that as the sound level increases, the time in which you can be exposed to it decreases. For example, if you go to a basketball game that is 97dB loud, you can only be exposed to this level for 30 minutes before you run the risk of damaging your hearing. Most basketball games are one to two hours long so in order to ensure you don’t damage your hearing you would need to wear hearing protection.

Hearing protection can quickly take a dangerous sound level to a safer one and allow you to enjoy the whole sporting event without the damaging effects or the noise hangover (i.e. ringing ears, muffled hearing, fatigue, and headache). There are many kinds of hearing protection to meet your needs and that allow you to still enjoy the experience.

To get an even more accurate idea of just how loud a sporting event is and if you should be wearing hearing protection, download a sound level meter app to your smartphone. Starkey Hearing Technologies offers a free app called SoundCheck that uses the microphones on the device to measure sound levels and inform you if your ears may be in danger.

If you are ever without a phone, keep in mind your ears can be your warning system for dangerous levels as well. Sound levels are too loud when:

• You have to raise your voice to be understood by someone standing nearby
• The noise hurts your ears
• You develop a buzzing or ringing sound in your ears, even temporarily
• You don’t hear as well as you normally do until several hours after you get away from the noise.

This is the final entry in our “Sound of Photos” Series. We hope that you’ve found the information helpful and it has encouraged you to take good care of your hearing.

If you live in the New York City area and want to get your hearing checked or have some custom ear plugs made, feel free to wear your favorite team’s jersey to the appointment; we’ll save the trash talk for game time!

Audiological Diagnostics • We’re All Ears™
Offices in Brooklyn, Manhattan & Queens
(718) 745-2826

The Sound Of Photos Series No. 4: Concerts

Live music events are exciting and fun. Going to see a favorite artist or band in an arena can be a real adrenaline boost, but it can also negatively affect your hearing, if you don’t take precautions.

If you’re unlucky, all it takes is one loud concert to spark a lifetime of ear problems — a constellation of symptoms that include not just hearing loss but also ringing in the ears, sound sensitivity, a feeling of aural fullness and even chronic ear pain.

Scientists are just now starting to understand the more nuanced workings of the inner ear, or cochlea, a tiny, snail shaped organ buried deep inside a skull bone — and about how noise exposure can gum up the complicated system in multiple ways.

Many people are familiar with muffled hearing and ringing ears — called tinnitus — after a concert or loud sporting event. Even if these symptoms go away within days, they can portend permanent ear damage, even years later.

The effect of noise is cumulative, insidious and, researchers say, irreversible.

“Over the course of one’s lifetime, the damage builds up,” said Paul Fuchs, a professor of otolaryngology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

According to the National Institutes of Health, about 50 percent of Americans age 75 and older have a disabling hearing loss, where their trouble understanding speech becomes apparent to them and to others.

Among teens, many of whom are wedded to ear buds and loud music, nearly 20 percent report some hearing loss. Tinnitus, a usually relentless ringing that can be much more distressing than hearing loss, plagues 10 to 15 percent of adults, according to various studies.

Chris Munson, 55, an engineer and former home-audio enthusiast from suburban Dallas, loved his music loud in his younger days.

He also had tinnitus that came and went. In hindsight, he said, “it was absolutely a warning sign, but if you don’t know how to read those warning signs, you ignore them.”

One day eight years ago — having listened to excerpts from films including “The Matrix” with his elaborate home-theater setup the previous night — Munson awoke with “my head in a ball of sound,” he said. The ringing worsened over time, spreading from one ear to both and expanding from one steady tone to several fluctuating ones. This time, the ringing didn’t go away. Instead, it worsened over time.

Soon afterward, Munson also developed mild hyperacusis — a sensitivity that renders everyday noises uncomfortably loud or even painful. He describes his tinnitus as a screaming, constant multi-tone with no real-world correlation. Now he gets an ache in the ear canal from the hum of the refrigerator and the snap of a pop top. To avoid clinking dishware, which causes him ear pain, his family eats from paper plates.

The home theater gathers dust.

“Your ears have a budget,” he said. “Spend it too quickly and you’re broke.”

Why noise can hurt

How does loud or unending noise damage hearing?

Basically, a sound wave vibrates the eardrum and then passes to the cochlea, which contains rows of microscopic hair cells bathed in fluid. These hair cells move with the sound and send signals through the auditory nerve to the brain, which interprets the sound.

Noise that’s too loud or long-lasting destroys the hair cells, causing hearing loss or partial deafness. But that’s not all. Recent studies show that noise also severs connections between nerves and brain, a likely cause of such abnormalities as the inability to separate background from foreground sound. People typically notice the problem when conversing in a crowded restaurant.

The mechanisms of tinnitus remain a mystery. One study used electrodes to measure the brain activity of a 50-year-old man with tinnitus and hearing loss. The patient had been a recreational firearm user in his younger days.

The effects of the tinnitus permeated many parts of his brain, while a matching tone activated only the part of the brain that processes hearing. In other words, the “noise” of tinnitus affects the brain far differently than a similar real noise does. That may explain why tinnitus is so distressing, said Phillip Gander, a postdoctoral research scholar at the University of Iowa, who is the study’s co-author.

Noise can also activate pain fibers in the inner ear. These fibers, which have been identified in mice though not yet in humans, probably explain the pain that occurs with an intensely loud noise as well as pain that can linger after the noise stops, said Jaime Garcia-Anoveros, an associate professor at Northwestern University and the senior author of a new study on “auditory nociception” or, in lay terms, “noise-induced pain.”

Another unexplained symptom — the feeling of aural fullness or pressure in the ear canal, not unlike the pressure felt during an airplane descent — may be caused by these same pain fibers, Garcia-Anoveros said.

“What they’re detecting is not necessarily sound. They could be detecting spilled contents of damaged cells — a sensation from your ear that is not a hearing sensation.”

Noise sensitivity

Noise doesn’t even have to be all that loud to be damaging. A long exposure to less-intense noise, such as a job in a noisy restaurant, can be especially pernicious. Bryan Pollard, president of the nonprofit Hyperacusis Research, says people report ear problems caused by all sorts of commonplace hazards, from lawn mowers to smoke alarms to power tools.

Once noise-caused sensitivity has set in, hyperacusis patients report crippling ear pain, sometimes from things as simple as a shopping trip filled with “noises they were not aware could be dangerous or surprise noise they did not anticipate,” Pollard said.

Even if people are aware that exposure to excessive noise can be bad, “I don’t think they have a sense of what it means should they acquire a hearing impairment,” said Gregory Flamme, an associate professor of audiology at Western Michigan University. “I don’t think they know how or when to protect themselves.”

People face more day-to-day noise than they realize, he said, from vacuum cleaners, blenders, hair dryers, movies and other things. Flamme uses noise dosimeters, which people wear to measure the total noise dosage during a day or other time period. One rousing basketball game could give a person what would normally be a month’s worth of exposure.

The ensuing damage depends in large part on individual susceptibility. In mouse studies, a gene governing susceptibility to noise-induced hearing loss has just been discovered, but it remains impossible to predict whose ears will prove to be “tough” or “tender,” as researchers put it.

Christine Reiners, 49, never thought twice about the loud tunes she listened to as a teenager. A few years ago, she started taking exercise classes. They ran just twice a week for an hour, but the music blared.

Last year, she woke one night with “the sound of an alarm” in her head. It never stopped. “It’s horrible — a high-pitched screech,” she said, sometimes joined by a chirp. She has trouble sleeping and concentrating.

Reiners has visited many doctors, receiving such misdiagnoses as an ear infection, intracranial hypertension and sinusitis. She even had sinus surgery, which didn’t help.

“It’s hard knowing that it’s not going to get any better,” said Reiners, a mother of two from North East, Maryland. “I’m praying it doesn’t get worse.”

According to hearing specialists, limiting the volume and duration of noise exposure goes a long way toward safety, as does the proper use of hearing protection such as earplugs or protective earmuffs.

A rule of thumb: Earplugs are needed when the noise is so loud that people sitting next to each other must raise their voices to be heard.

Because there are no ways to fix noise-induced hearing problems, “the only solution is prevention,” said Larry E. Roberts, a professor emeritus and auditory neuroscientist at McMaster University in Canada. He views loud noise as a public-health hazard akin to smoking, and he would like to see aggressive public-awareness campaigns.

Research is starting on ways to reverse hearing impairments, but “the challenge of restoring functional hearing with molecular engineering is great and is likely decades away,” Roberts said. “Think of smoking. We can do lung transplants, but this is not the solution for lung cancer.”

If you love going to live music events, but you’re feeling protective of your hearing, we can take an impression of your ear canal and provide you with custom-made ear plugs for such occasions. They come in a variety of types with a variety of moderate prices.

Loving music means being able to love it for the long term! Be sure to get tested annually.

Need to have a hearing test, get custom ear plugs or think you need a hearing aid, and live in the NYC area? We would be happy to help you!

Audiological Diagnostics • We’re All Ears™
Offices in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens
(718) 745-2826

 

Source:
https://www.dailyherald.com/

The Sound of Photos Series No. 3: Classroom Chaos

The collective sound of human voices is the greatest noise problem in schools, according to noise level measurements. You may be surprised to read that the noise from multiple voices can be significantly louder than machinery or other equipment.

Pupils talk loudly among one another, one-to-one and in group settings. Yelling and screaming can expose pupils and teachers to dangerous noise levels as high as 130 dB, sometimes resulting in permanent hearing damage.

Teachers modulate their voices according to the background noise. And a general problem is pupils and teachers trying to make themselves heard over each other instead of keeping the noise down and speaking in turn.

In a normal classroom setting, the teacher’s voice is some 20-30 dB above the background noise level. For example, a teacher’s voice level was measured at 50-60 dB in a classroom with a background noise level measured at 33 dB. The louder the background noise, the louder the teacher must speak, and this, in turn, may result in increased background noise.

Examples of average measurements of background noise levels in school settings in decibels (dB):

• Ordinary classroom: Background noise level with 17 pupils engaged in group work, 45-50 dB.
• Background noise in an unruly classroom with 11 students engaged in group work, 60-65 dB.
• Child grabbing for Lego blocks in box (measured from distance of 1 meter), 82 dB.
• Two children talking about toys (measured from distance of 2 meters), 78-82 dB.
• Bell in hallway (peak value measured from distance of 2 meters), 115 dB.
• Music class: Pupils talking (background noise without music), 68-73 dB.
• School kitchen: Pupils talking and cooking (background noise without machinery noise), 67-80 dB.
• Wood working room: Pupils talking and working (background noise without power tool noise), 78-90 dB.

The effects of noise on hearing vary among people. Some people’s ears are more sensitive to loud sounds, especially at certain frequencies. (Frequency means how low or high a tone is.) But any sound that is loud enough and lasts long enough can damage hearing and lead to hearing loss.

Annual hearing exams are recommended for everyone, but they’re especially important if you’re exposed to noisy environments.  If you live in the New York City area, and want to take an active part in maintaining your hearing health, just give us a call. A hearing exam typically takes 15 minutes and we accept most insurances.

Audiological Diagnostics • We’re All Ears™
Offices in Brooklyn, Manhattan & Queens
(718) 745-2826

 

Source:
hearit.org
who.int

 

 

The Sound of Photos Series No. 2: Noisy Occupations

Noise is one of the most common causes of hearing loss, and one of the most common occupational illnesses in the United States. Repeated exposures to loud machinery may, over an extended period of time, present serious risks to human hearing.

• Ten million Americans have already suffered irreversible hearing damage from noise; thirty million are exposed to hazardous noise levels each day.
• The risk and harmful effects of noise on hearing are often underestimated because the damage takes place so gradually.

Excessive noise exposure damages the delicate hair cells in the inner ear, not too differently as the effect of age on the ear (accelerated “wear and tear”). This damage often results in permanent, sensorineural hearing loss and tinnitus (ringing of the ears). Hazardous noise exposures can occur on the job, but also in common recreational activities. Hearing loss prevention thus requires diligence and sensitivity to situations where hearing can be put at risk:

• Beware of recreational sources of hazardous noise like firearms, firecrackers, power tools, music concerts, dance clubs, NASCAR, sporting events, motorcycles, motorboats, snowmobiles, powerboats, and “boom cars”. See our noise thermometer which shows you the relative risk associated with exposure to various noise environments.
• The risk for hearing loss due to exposure to noise is especially high among factory and heavy industry workers, transportation workers, military personnel, construction workers, miners, farmers, firefighters, police officers, musicians, and entertainment industry professionals.

If you have to raise your voice to shout over the noise to be heard by someone within an arm’s length away, that noise could be a serious risk to your hearing. You can prevent hearing loss by removing yourself from situations where noise is excessive or by using ear plugs to protect your ears.

Be alert to some of these warning signs, which could suggest that you’ve been exposed to hazardous noise:

• You hear ringing or buzzing (tinnitus) in your ears after exposure to noise.
• You notice that you can hear people talking, but you have difficulty understanding them, after exposure to noise.
• You experience “fullness” in your ears after leaving a noisy area.

Remember, even though you might have experienced these symptoms temporarily in the past, your hearing might not always “recover,” leaving you with a permanent and regrettable hearing problem.

If you work in an at-risk occupation, check with your employer to make sure that your job site has an effective program to adequately protect your hearing, meeting federal or state regulations.

• Wear hearing protection, such as earplugs or earmuffs, consistently when using loud equipment at work or at home. Foam earplugs are available at your pharmacy, earmuffs can be purchased at sporting goods or safety equipment stores, and specialized hearing protection is available from hearing clinics.
• Limit exposure to noisy activities at home. Monitor your listening level and how long you are listening to personal listening devices (like MP3 players, such as iPods). Encourage your children to use their headphones conservatively. Consider investing in higher quality earphones that block out background noise, to help you moderate your listening levels in noisier places.

Note: being able to overhear your child’s headphones is not a good way to tell if they are listening too loud! If you can hear it, their music might be too loud, but just because you can’t hear it, that doesn’t mean the levels are OK.

Buy quieter products (compare dB ratings and ask for low-noise products).

Keep an “eye” on your hearing – see a hearing health professional routinely for hearing testing, or if offered through your employer, ensure you know your hearing test results and track it year-to-year.

Be alert to risks of hazardous noise in your life. Since prevention of hearing loss is so critical, make sure that your family (especially children), friends, and colleagues are aware of the hazards of noise and how they can protect themselves. Remember: One-third of permanent hearing loss is preventable with proper hearing loss prevention strategies.

If you work in a noisy environment, or you find you’re having difficulties hearing, we’d be happy to help you. We have offices in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens. 

Audiological Diagnostics • We’re All Ears™
(718) 745-2826

Sources:
https://www.osha.gov/
http://www.betterhearing.org
https://www.who.int/

The Sound of Photos Series No. 1: Hearing Health and Commutes

Over 4.3 million New York City residents use the subway system to commute and get around town. While convenient, this mode of transportation is tough on your hearing!

 

To protect hearing, both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the World Health Organization recommend an average exposure limit of 70 decibels (dB) over the course of 24 hours. But what was measured exceeds that limit: the average noise levels on all subway platforms and on all subway rides (inside subway trains) is between 72.5 and 76.5 dB and between 74.1 and 75.8 dB, respectively.

And, with maximum readings actually as high as 119 dB on platforms and 120 dB on rides—based on actual recorded data within the sample—the NYC subway is likely an auditory minefield. (See hhf.org/subway for full data.)

From January to August 2018, three data collectors used Decibel Meter Pro, a smartphone app on iPhones and an iPad to collect 120 samples from platforms and rides. All 60 platform samples were equally represented at five minutes each. The 60 ride samples were assigned random recording lengths from 10 to 30 minutes. Samples on Saturday and Sunday or between 11 p.m. and 4:45 a.m. on any day were excluded. Random sampling was utilized as much as possible to help ensure generalizability on behalf of all platforms and rides.

The analysis examined potential harm to hearing from loud noises on subway platforms and loud noises during subway rides. For platform noise, the main variable is the number of trains that pass; for subway ride noise, the main variable is the number of local stations the train passes. Also investigated, was the number of seconds the subway noise level reached 75 dB or higher.

When measuring subway rides, they noted train travels between Manhattan and another borough or vice versa; whether a train runs above ground; whether the sample was collected during rush hour; and whether a local train ever becomes an express train, with fewer stops.

The statistical method of multiple regression was used to predict dangerous noise exposure on both platforms and rides, with accurate predictions that each train that enters or leaves a platform will expose a rider’s ears to 16.53 seconds of noise at 75 dB or higher. For example, if a rider waits at a platform where two trains come and go before their train arrives, that would be a predicted exposure of 82.65 additional seconds of noise at 75 dB or higher.

They also predicted that each subway stop that is passed will expose a rider’s ears to 36.06 seconds of noise of 75 dB or higher. For example, if a rider passes 10 local train stops on their trip, the predicted exposure of noise at 75 dB or higher is 360.60 additional seconds—or 6.01 additional minutes.

HHF’s recommendation for commuters, MTA staff, and platform retailers such as newsstand operators is simple: Wear ear protection. MTA staff and platform retailers are at elevated risk given the hours they spend underground and on the trains.

The tendency for many commuters to block noise by raising the volume of their headphones could, in fact, damage hearing even more.

The subway is merely only one of many sources of daily noise. “Noise-induced hearing loss can result from a single, sudden noise event and from constant exposure to loud noises that has a cumulative effect (not unlike sun exposure) and can lead to related negative health effects when unknown and untreated,” says Lauren McGrath, HHF’s marketing manager.

The MTA appears aware of the issue of subway noise. The newly built Second Avenue subway line uses effective noise-reduction measures such as “low vibration tracks and sound absorbing panels.” We hope the MTA will continue to use these quieter, low vibration tracks when making subway and station upgrades, especially since they are more cost-effective than traditional wooden tracks.

The take-away message is that while you may need to take the subway, you should be wearing hearing protection; whether you choose to use something over the counter or custom made for a better fit and better protection.

If you find that your years of commuting have taken its toll on your hearing, make an appointment for a hearing test and make annual checks part of your New Year routine!

If you’re in the NYC area, give us a call. We accept most insurances. Hearing tests typically take fifteen minutes, and can give you the answers about whether your hearing has been effected by the noisy subways.

Audiological Diagnostics • We’re All Ears™
Offices in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens
(718) 745-2826

Source:
https://hearinghealthfoundation.org/