How to Avoid Hearing Loss

Prevention of hearing loss is as important as protecting yourself from heart disease, diabetes, or a head injury. Your ears are precious and keep them protected from exposure to loud noises. For example, loud music played through headphones, loud vehicles, loud machines or even hunters gunshots are potentially harmful to your ears.

Prevent Hearing Loss

Which Sounds Are Harmful To Your Ears

Any sound that has a loudness level greater than 85 decibels is harmful to human ears. It can even be a cause of permanent hearing loss. Some of the examples of harmful noises are Industrial workplace noises, gunshots, loud music and many more. Check these decibel ratings and permissible exposure times provided by the Canadian Centre For Occupational Health and Safety(CCOHS)

Intensities of Common Sounds in Decibels

Sounds Intensities Permissible exposure time
City Traffic, inside the car 85 dB 8 hours
Bulldozer 88 dB 4 hours
Jazz Concert 91 dB 2 hours
Power Mower 94 dB 1 hour
Nightclub 97 dB 30 minutes
Ambulance Siren, inside driver window down 100 dB 15 minutes
Rock Concert, Leaf Blower 115 dB 30 seconds

For a complete listing of over 1500 noises and their corresponding decibel levels, check out this list of Exposure Time Guidelines from Dangerous Decibels.

Benjamin Franklin got it right when he said “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”