HEARING LOSS

Treatment Benefits

If you or someone in your family is suffering from hearing loss, you’re not alone. Hearing loss affects an estimated 35 million Americans. While hearing loss has historically been associated with age, increasingly baby boomers in their 40s and 50s are experiencing hearing problems.

One reason for the increase in hearing loss among baby boomers is that they are the first generation to be exposed to electronically amplified sound. Today, hearing experts know that prolonged exposure to loudly amplified music can cause permanent hearing loss. In fact, many cases of hearing loss among baby boomers can be traced to their youth when they listened to rock bands or played in them.

Baby boomers are also the first generation to experience prolonged exposure to loud sounds from electric blenders, lawn care equipment, power tools, recreational vehicles and jet airplanes. As a result, they are the first generation to notice hearing loss while still in their 40s and 50s.

How loud is too LOUD?

Exposure to sound levels of 90 decibels—the equivalent of a lawn mower or food blender—may cause permanent hearing loss if endured for eight hours per day for a prolonged period. For higher sound levels, a shorter duration of exposure may be damaging.

The risk of noise-induced hearing loss depends on the combination of noise level and noise duration. While more intense and longer duration sounds can cause more hearing loss, some very intense sounds, such as a gunshot or a firecracker, may cause permanent damage with a single brief exposure.

Regular exposure to sounds of 110 decibels (the sound level of a chain saw) for more than one minute risks permanent hearing loss. Experts say that unprotected exposure to sounds of more than 100 decibels should be limited to no more than 15 minutes.

Prolonged exposure to any noise above 90 decibels (the sound level of a lawn mower, motorcycle, or a blaring iPod) can cause gradual irreversible hearing loss.

Two warning symptoms of hazardous sound exposure are a ringing in the ears and muffled sounds.