Football season has officially started! Amidst all the excitement about your fantasy team, tailgating and your team’s promising new rookie, we need to take some time to discuss your hearing health at sporting events.
What Is Noise-Induced Hearing Loss?
Whenever you’re exposed to loud noise, whether it’s sustained exposure over a long period of time or a one-time, sudden sound, it has the potential to damage your hearing. When this occurs, it’s called noise-induced hearing loss, or NIHL. Approximately 40 million U.S. adults may have NIHL, but the good news is that it’s preventable.
Sounds enter the ear through the outer ear and get amplified in the middle ear. Those amplified sound waves then enter the inner ear, where they are received by an organ called the cochlea. The cochlea has delicate hair-like cells that read and transmit the sound waves, but the hairs are so fragile that powerful sound waves can damage them. Damaged hair cells can’t effectively transmit sound information, leading to permanent damage to hair cells and hearing loss.
Sound is measured in decibels, or dBA. Sounds under 60 dBA are considered quiet, and most conversations happen around 60 to 70 dBA. Sounds at or below 70 dBA, even after long exposure, are unlikely to cause hearing loss, but sounds at or above 85 dBA are considered dangerous to hearing. The louder the sound—i.e., the greater the decibels—the less time it takes for damage to happen. Hearing loss can lead to communication difficulties and disconnection from the world around you.
Are Sporting Events Dangerous for Hearing?
Stadiums get loud: the pep band, the announcer is blaring over the loudspeaker, and fans are cheering all around you. This makes for the fun, energetic atmosphere we love about watching sports, but all that noise can reach dangerous levels. Sporting events can reach 110 dBA or more and last a long time.
What Can I Do to Protect My Hearing While at the Sporting Event?
Here are some tips to help you protect your hearing while cheering on your team:
- Choose your seat wisely. When buying your ticket, avoid seats near speakers or amplifiers.
- Wear hearing protection, such as earplugs, earmuffs or noise-cancelling headphones. Good ear protection can reduce noise levels by up to 30 dBA.
- Take breaks. Find a quiet corner of the stadium, like the bathroom or an outdoor area, to give your ears some time to rest and recover from the loud noise of the stadium.
- Don’t shout at your neighbors. When it’s loud and you have something to say to the person next to you, it’s tempting to shout to make yourself heard, but this only elevates the noise levels. You expose your neighbor to loud noise, and they’ll respond to you in kind. Wait for a quieter moment in the action to say what you need to or consider writing it down.
If, after the sporting event, you feel that your hearing has changed—perhaps you’re experiencing tinnitus or muffled hearing—then it’s a good idea to book an appointment with a hearing health professional to assess the damage done and what can be done. Call Southwest Idaho Ear, Nose and Throat to book an appointment or get more information on hearing health protection.