No one wants hearing loss. Imagine getting older and not being able to hear the birds chirping, the waves crashing against the shore, or grandkids laughing.
Hearing loss is caused by your ears being exposed to extremely loud noises over time. If you spent most of your days on a shooting range, airport runway, or working in a loud factory, and you didn’t have hearing protection, you would most likely be deaf because your ears couldn’t stand the intense noise.
Today, there are smart phone apps that measure “decibel levels” so you can figure out if where you are is too loud for your ears. Noise over 85 decibels can cause hearing damage, and once the levels get over 100, that’s especially a danger zone for your ears.
Perhaps the smartest thing to do when you know you’ll be around loud noises for an extended period of time is to buy and wear hearing protection devices, such as ear plugs. Companies like Electronic Shooters Protection custom make hearing protection devices. Advanced digital hearing protection in-ear devices are also available, allowing the extremely loud noises to be blocked while ensuring casual conversation can clearly be heard.
Here’s some practical advice: if you’re at a rock concert and you’re close to the speakers and you know it’s too loud for your own good, move! Maybe that means going “in the back” of the venue, or into the foyer, or even outside the building—you’ll still be able to hear the music, but it won’t be deafening.
If you wear earphones to listen to music and people around you can hear the music playing, it’s too loud.
You only get one pair of ears in life. It’s best to protect your hearing now so you don’t end up asking, “What did you say? Huh?” all the time later.