Some activities are just staples of summer: Outdoor concerts, fireworks shows, state fairs, air shows, and NASCAR races (look, if you like watching cars go around in circles, nobody’s going to judge you). As more of these events return to something like normal, the crowds, and the decibel levels, are growing.
And that can be an issue. Let’s face it: you’ve noticed ringing in your ears after going to a concert before. This ringing, known as tinnitus, can be an indication that you’ve sustained hearing damage. And the more damage you experience, the more your hearing will deteriorate.
But it’s ok. With the proper hearing protection, you’ll be able to enjoy those summer experiences (even NASCAR) without doing long-term damage to your ears.
How can you know if your hearing is taking a beating?
So how much attention should you be putting on your ears when you’re at that concert or air show?
Because you’ll be fairly distracted, understandably.
You should watch for the following symptoms if you want to prevent serious damage:
- Dizziness: Your sense of balance is primarily controlled by your inner ear. Dizziness is another signal that damage has occurred, particularly if it’s accompanied by a change 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 have a headache, something is probably not right. And when you’re trying to gauge hearing damage this is even more relevant. A pounding headache can be caused by excessively loud volume. If you find yourself in this situation, seek a quieter setting.
- Tinnitus: This is a buzzing or ringing in your ears. It means your ears are sustaining damage. Tinnitus is fairly common, but that doesn’t mean you should disregard it.
Obviously, this list isn’t complete. There are little hairs in your ears which are responsible for picking up vibrations in the air and excessively loud noises can harm these hairs. And once these tiny hairs are damaged, they never heal or grow back. They’re that specialized and that fragile.
And the phrase “ow, my little ear hairs hurt” isn’t something you ever hear people say. So watching for secondary symptoms will be the only way you can know if you’re developing hearing loss.
It’s also possible for damage to occur with no symptoms at all. Damage will take place whenever you’re exposed to overly loud noise. And the damage will get worse the longer the exposure continues.
When you do detect symptoms, what should I do?
You’re rocking out just amazingly (everyone sees and is immediately entertained by how hard you rock, you’re the life of the party) when your ears begin to ring, and you feel a bit dizzy. How loud is too loud and what should you do? And are you in the danger zone? How are you supposed to know how loud 100 decibels is?
Well, you have a few options, and they vary in terms of how helpful they’ll be:
- Keep a set of cheap earplugs with you: Cheap earplugs are, well, cheap. For what they are, they’re moderately effective and are better than no protection. So there’s no excuse not to keep a set with you. That way, if things get a bit too loud, you can simply pop these puppies in.
- You can leave the concert venue: Truthfully, this is most likely your best possible solution if you’re looking to safeguard your hearing health. But it will also put an end to your fun. It would be understandable if you would rather stay and enjoy the concert utilizing a different way to protect your hearing. But you should still consider getting out if your symptoms become extreme.
- Find the merch booth: Disposable earplugs are obtainable at some venues. So if you can’t find anything else, it’s worth trying the merch booth or vendor area. Your hearing health is important so the few bucks you pay will be well worth it.
- Use anything to cover your ears: When things get loud, the goal is to safeguard your ears. So if you don’t have any earplugs and the volume levels have taken you by surprise, think about using anything you can find to cover up and safeguard your ears. Even though it won’t be as effective as approved hearing protection, something is better than nothing.
- Try moving away from the source of the noise: If you detect any ear pain, distance yourself from the speakers. To put it bluntly, distance yourself from the source of the noise. Maybe that means letting go of your front row seats at NASCAR, but you can still enjoy the show and give your ears a needed break.
Are there more effective hearing protection methods?
So, disposable earplugs will do when you’re primarily interested in safeguarding your hearing for a couple of hours at a concert. But if you work in your garage daily fixing your old Chevelle with power tools, or if you have season tickets to your favorite football team or NASCAR, or you go to concerts a lot, it’s a little different.
In these cases, you will want to take a few more profound steps to protect your hearing. Here are a few steps in that direction:
- Get an app that monitors decibel levels: Ambient noise is usually monitored by your smartphone automatically, but you can also download an app that can do that. When noise becomes too loud, these apps will let you know. Monitor your own portable volume meter to ensure you’re protecting your ears. Using this strategy, the exact decibel level that will damage your ears will be obvious.
- Come in and see us: We can perform a hearing assessment so that you’ll know where your hearing levels are right now. And after you have a recorded baseline, it will be easier to notice and note any damage. Plus, we’ll have a lot of personalized tips for you, all designed to protect your ears.
- Wear professional or prescription level hearing protection. This might mean over-the-ear headphones, but more likely, it will mean custom fitted earplugs. The better the fit, the better the protection. When you need them, you will have them with you and you can simply put them in.
Have your cake and hear it, too
It may be a mixed metaphor but you get the point: you can have fun at all those awesome summer activities while still safeguarding your hearing. You will enjoy those activities safely by taking a few simple measures. And that’s relevant with anything, even your headphones. You will be able to make better hearing decisions when you know how loud is too loud for headphones.
Because if you really love going to see a NASCAR race or an airshow or an outdoor summer concert, chances are, you’re going to want to keep doing that as the years go on. If you’re not sensible 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
