Photo credit: Juan Pablo Serrano
by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
According to the RNZ website, published by Radio New Zealand, daily harmful noise exposure affects thousands. But I think they’re wrong, and the actual number is likely millions, tens of millions and even billions of people around the world. Maybe, as my grandchildren might say, “zillions” if you include land animals, fish and marine mammals! Regardless of the number, noise is unwanted and/or harmful sound.
RNZ discusses research done by our noise colleague, professor Richard Neitzel, at the University of Michigan. Neitzel is the principal investigator for the Apple Hearing Study, which collects and analyzes data obtained from volunteer research subjects wearing iWatches. As Neitzel told RNZ, one feature of modern life is that people are exposed to noise almost continuously. Correlating noise exposure levels recorded by participants’ iWatches with self-administered online hearing tests, Neitzel’s group found that 18-25% of participants were getting dangerous noise levels either from everyday noise exposure or from their personal listening devices. For reasons not yet understood, Black and Hispanic participants were subjected to greater noise exposure.
The report mentions that 70 decibels is a safe noise level, something that I wrote about in 2017. However, I might have been wrong. My recent analysis suggests that the actual safe noise exposure level to prevent hearing loss might be as low as 55 A-weighted decibels* for a single noise event, and a daily average of only 55-60 decibels.
Regardless of the number, if something sounds loud, it’s too loud. Turn down the volume, leave the noisy environment or use hearing protection. And to be safe, it’s best not to use personal listening devices, too.
*A-weighting adjusts sound measurements to approximate the frequencies heard in human speech.
