Photo credit: JÉSHOOTS
by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
“Loud music can damage your hearing. Just ask WYSO host Rev Cool.” That’s the title of a report from public radio station WYSO in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Reporter Peter Day writes about one of the station’s radio hosts, Jason Carter a.k.a. Rev Cool, who has been a fixture of the Dayton music scene for more than 40 years. Carter is a radio host and concert promoter with his own record label. He developed noise-induced hearing loss from decades of concert-going, and now wears hearing aids.
Unfortunately, the article includes dangerously incorrect information. Canadian audiologist Marshall Chasin, director of audiology and research at the Musicians’ Clinics of Canada, cites the industrial-strength 85 decibel noise exposure level in a discussion of safe listening. The article also includes a table from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health noise criteria manual.
NIOSH actually states that occupational noise exposure recommendations are not valid for the public. They don’t protect noise-exposed workers from developing noise-induced hearing loss, and they won’t protect the public. The occupational noise exposure recommendations and limits are based on 40-year exposures, but the public is exposed to noise 24 hours a day, seven days a week, from birth to death. Workers are healthy enough to be working, but the public includes those more susceptible to auditory damage, such as those too sick to work, children, pregnant people, older people and people who already have hearing loss, tinnitus or hyperacusis. The only evidence-based safe noise exposure level is a time-weighted average of 70 decibels for a day. That is probably too high. The occupational noise exposure recommendations Chasin cites also need to be lowered, for a variety of reasons.
Chasin states, “There’s nothing wrong with loud music. Go and enjoy it thoroughly. Just do it in moderation. Common sense. And if you’re going to be in a noisy location, hearing protection can be very useful.” Only the last sentence is accurate. I wish he had offered this sound advice: Loud music is bad for your ears. If something sounds loud, it’s too loud, and your auditory health is at risk. Turn down the volume, leave the noisy environment or use hearing protection.
