Some activities are just staples of summer: Outdoor concerts, fireworks shows, state fairs, air shows, and NASCAR races (look, if you enjoy watching cars drive around in circles, nobody’s going to judge you). As more of these activities return to something like normal, the crowds, and the decibel levels, are getting larger.
But sometimes this can cause issues. Let’s face it: you’ve noticed ringing in your ears after attending a concert before. This ringing, known as tinnitus, can be a sign that you’ve sustained hearing damage. And as you keep exposing your ears to these loud noises, you continue to do further permanent damage to your hearing.
But don’t worry. With the correct ear protection, you’ll be able to enjoy those summer experiences (even NASCAR) without doing permanent damage to your ears.
How to know your hearing is suffering
So how much attention should you be putting on your ears when you’re at that air show or concert?
Because, naturally, you’ll be fairly distracted.
You should watch out for the following symptoms if you want to avoid severe injury:
- Dizziness: Your sense of balance is largely controlled by your inner ear. Dizziness is another signal that damage has taken place, especially if it’s accompanied by a spike in volume. So if you’re at one of these noisy events and you feel dizzy you may have injured your ears.
- Headache: If you’re experiencing a headache, something is probably wrong. This is definitely true when you’re attempting to gauge damage to your hearing, too. Excessive volume can trigger a pounding headache. And that’s a good indication that you should seek a quieter environment.
- Tinnitus: This is a ringing or buzzing in your ears. It’s a sign that damage is taking place. You shouldn’t necessarily neglect tinnitus simply because it’s a fairly common condition.
This list is not complete, obviously. There are little hairs inside of your ears which are responsible for detecting vibrations in the air and excessively loud sounds can damage these hairs. And once these tiny hairs are destroyed, they never heal or grow back. That’s how delicate and specialized they are.
And it isn’t like you’ve ever heard anyone say, “Ow, the little hairs in my ear hurt”. So looking out for secondary symptoms will be the only way you can detect if you’re developing hearing loss.
You also could be developing hearing loss without any apparent symptoms. Any exposure to loud noise will produce damage. And the damage will worsen the longer the exposure continues.
When you do detect symptoms, what should I do?
You’re getting your best groove on (and everybody is digging it), but then, you begin to feel dizzy and your ears start to ring. What should you do? How loud is too loud? And are you in a dangerous spot? How are you supposed to know how loud 100 decibels is?
Well, you’ve got several solutions, and they vary with regards to how helpful they’ll be:
- Put a little distance between you and the origin of noise: If you detect any pain in your ears, distance yourself from the speakers. Essentially, distance yourself from the source of the noise. You can give your ears a rest while still enjoying yourself, but you might have to let go of your front row NASCAR seats.
- Bring cheap earplugs wherever you go: Cheap earplugs are, well, cheap. They aren’t the best hearing protection in the world, but they’re somewhat effective for what they are. So there’s no excuse not to keep a set with you. This way, if things get a bit too loud, you can simply pop in these puppies.
- Find the merch booth: Disposable earplugs are obtainable at some venues. So if you can’t find anything else, it’s worth checking out the merch booth or vendor area. Usually, you won’t have to pay more than a few dollars, and when it comes to the health of your hearing, that’s a bargain!
- You can go somewhere less noisy: If you really want to protect your ears, this is really your best option. But it’s also the least fun solution. It would be understandable if you’d rather stay and enjoy the concert utilizing a different way to safeguard your hearing. But you should still think about leaving if your symptoms become significant.
- Block your ears with, well, anything: The goal is to protect your ears when things are loudest. Try using something near you to cover your ears if you don’t have earplugs and the high volume abruptly takes you by surprise. It won’t be the most efficient way to control the sound, but it will be better than nothing.
Are there better hearing protection methods?
So when you need to safeguard your ears for a short time period at a concert, disposable earplugs will be fine. But it’s a bit different when you’re a music-lover, and you go to concerts nightly, or you have season tickets to NASCAR or football games, or you work in your garage every evening restoring an old Corvette with loud power tools.
In these situations, you will want to take a few more profound steps to safeguard your hearing. Here are some steps in that direction:
- Use professional or prescription level ear protection. This may mean over-the-ear headphones, but more likely, it will mean custom fitted earplugs. The degree of protection improves with a better fit. You can always bring these with you and put them in when you need them.
- Come in and see us: You need to know where your present hearing levels are, so come in and let us help. And it will be much easier to recognize and record any damage once a baseline is established. You will also get the added advantage of our individualized advice to help you keep your ears safe.
- Get an app that monitors volume levels: Most modern smartphones will be able to download an app that monitors the ambient noise. These apps will then alert you when the noise becomes dangerously high. Monitor your own portable decibel meter to ensure you’re safeguarding your ears. This way, you’ll be able to easily see what decibel level is loud enough to damage your ears.
Have your cake and hear it, too
It might be a mixed metaphor but you get the point: you can protect your hearing and enjoy all these fabulous outdoor summer activities. You will enjoy those activities safely by taking a few simple measures. You need to take these measures even with headphones. You will be able to make better hearing choices when you know how loud is too loud for headphones.
As the years go on, you will probably want to keep doing all of your favorite outdoor summer activities. If you’re not smart now you might end up losing your hearing and also your summer fun.
References
https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/hearing_loss/what_noises_cause_hearing_loss.html
https://hearinghealthfoundation.org/decibel-levels