PSA: Consider Wearing Earplugs When Outdoors

Lately I took up the habit of wearing my -20dB musician's earplugs when venturing out into the city, purely as a preventive measure.

Yesterday some maniac with a souped-up car decided to do a 100-meter turbo dash, starting precisely next to me. It was super loud and I had 0 advance warning.

Thankfully the earplugs were in and I could observe in real time that my tinnitus wasn't affected and I didn't get TTS, so probably no hearing damage either. But I am not sure I would have gotten off this easy without the -20dB attenuation. The car was easily 90-100dB loud, which to my ears was only a safe 70-80dB, but without protection... scary to think about it.

 

90db is scary? Isn't that the db of an alarm clock.

 

Noises above 85dB are considered harmful to hearing. In OSHA safety standards, 90dB is permissible only for 8 hours a day; 100dB only for 2 hours a day.

Plus, there is significant individual variability and if someone already has tinnitus/hearing damage, it is reasonable to believe that their ears are already compromised and these OHSA standards no longer apply. A motorbike engine booming by at 110dB might not be harmful for someone with healthy ears, but it might very well cause a bad spike for a T sufferer.

 

The length of exposure matters, too. 90dB for 15 seconds is not the same as 90dB for eight hours.

 

This PSA is well meaning, but it can be dangerous in the context of hearing overprotection. I wouldn't recommend to go out with ear plugs all the time unless a hearing specialist (doc) recommended that to you. People who need to go to that extreme do exist (some are on this forum), but for the rest, this could be detrimental.

I'm not even talking about increased risks of infection and irritation from having plugs in all the time.

 

It is not a good idea to be wearing earplugs regularly as you will lower the loudness threshold of your auditory system. This is well documented on the Internet by medical professionals. If you are sensitive to sound (hyperaucis) then get it treated. You will be making more trouble for yourself in the long run and come to regret what you are doing.

Michael

 

I live in a metro area, although not in the city proper. Noise exposure while being outside was a concern of mine but after getting ear muffs, no longer a problem. The ambient noise from being outside is normally soothing. I would hate to cut myself off from that. So I just carry my muffs with me and if there are loud sounds I can slip them on and off easily.

 

You have to watch you don't over protect your ears from daily sounds you come across as you can get sensitive ears even Hyperacusis.
Love glynis x

 

That seems to be a good idea. What kind of earmuffs are you using?

 

Generally I agree with you on this, at least to a degree, but with the caveat that all environments are not equal. @hans799 said they live in a city; there's good data to support the idea that cities are basically dangerously loud, and that people who live in them long-term and don't "overprotect", suffer hearing damage as a result (https://www.noisyplanet.nidcd.nih.gov/have-you-heard/noisy-city-may-lead-to-hearing-loss)

When I lived in a major metro area, I did use earplugs when I was walking along busy highways, walking under flight paths, or inside well-populated restaurants and bars (including those you might not think of as "loud"). Now that I'm out of the hell of the cityscape, I probably use earplugs about ~10% as much (excluding sleep).

That said, a car passing by for a few seconds at 90db does not strike me as worth thinking about. Riding in a car at 90db for a half hour is a different story.

 

At least we agree once in a while.....