Photo credit: Allan Mas
by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
An interesting story in Science Daily reports that sound is a primary issue in the lives of skateboarders. Who knew? The story is based on research done at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, published in the journal Sport in Society. Skateboarders are aware that the sound their skateboards make is harsh and may be annoying to others, but they also use the sound to judge performance.
One of the things I learned is that skateboarders both hear and feel the noise from their wheels on whatever surface they’re skating on. The noise provides important feedback about how they’re doing. It also serves a social function, helping them connect with other skateboarders. Some of them modify what they’re doing if they think it’s too noisy.
I’ve mentioned my home repair activities in previous blog posts, and sometimes the sound of what I’m doing provides important feedback, too. When sanding something, the noise decreases as the surface becomes smoother. When drilling, the noise decreases dramatically when the drill bit goes through the wood or drywall. That’s especially true when using a hammer drill to make a hole in cinder block. If I’m doing a particularly noisy repair, I let our neighbors know.
Of course, I now use hearing protection when using power tools, and often even when just sanding. Depending on the grit of the paper and the surface I’m sanding, sometimes the noise is annoying. I take that as a sign that I need to insert my earplugs.
Because if it sounds loud, it’s too loud and my hearing is at risk. I don’t think skateboarders know that if their wheels are making a lot of noise on a concrete surface, their hearing may be at risk, too. I’ve not seen any papers about hearing loss in skateboarders, and perhaps the professors in Exeter can do that research next.
