Duracell Hearing Aid Battery

Understanding Noise Induced Hearing Loss

It has been said that ten percent of Americans suffer from hearing loss that impedes their ability to comprehend normal everyday speech. The most common origin of hearing loss is repeated excessive exposure to loud noises resulting in a condition termed Noise Induced Hearing Loss. Many people do not understand how noise can affect something as simple as hearing capabilities, and often the damage is permanent. This article will show you how repeated exposure to noise can cause permanent noise induced hearing loss.

Noise can be extremely dangerous if you are exposed to it on a consistent basis. If the noise lasts long enough and is loud enough, you will suffer hearing damage on a permanent basis. The damage that is caused from this noise is called nerve deafness or sensorineural hearing loss and is more commonly known as noise induced hearing loss. The important thing to know is that it can be reduced and even prevented completely if you take precaution. Many people think that just be being accustomed to loud noises, or to a specific loud noise that your ears will get accustomed to the damage. Actually it works the other way around in that your ear has probably already suffered damage if the noise does not bother you anymore. There is no treatment that can restore your hearing once it has incurred damage caused by noise.

Everybody is different in terms of how sensitive they are to noise so it is difficult to determine from one person to the next if a specific noise is dangerous enough to cause hearing loss. As a rule of thumb, it is probable that noise will damage your ability to hear if you find yourself shouting over background noises or if you have trouble making yourself heard. You may find that the noise actually causes pain in your ears, ringing ears, or that you have problems hearing for many hours after being exposed to the noise. The intensity of sound is measured in terms of decibels and it works on a scale. The decibel scale starts at the faintest possible sound that our ear can detect and is labeled at 0 dB and the scale goes as high as 180 dB which is the intensity of sound at a rocket launch. Most hearing experts will concur that a constant exposure to noises louder than 85 decibels is dangerous when it comes to hearing loss.

The length of time also has a huge impact on noise induced hearing loss. The longer that you experience exposure to a loud noise, the more damage the noise will cause. Proximity plays a role as well. The closer you are to the noise's source, the more damage you will incur. Noise induced hearing loss is something that needs to be taken very seriously, and something that can easily be prevented. See your doctor if you think you suffer from noise induced hearing loss, or if you think you may need assistance in prevention.