The Sounds of Summer! Fun or Dangerous?

The Sounds of Summer!

As we immerse ourselves in summer fun and activities it's important to remember the things that keep us healthy and enjoy all of our summers to come.  We covered this topic on our facebook page (Visit us on facebook!) and posted our weekly Florida Time Union article on our practice website.  Here's the gist: there are so many things that we don't consider could damage our hearing.  It's our goal to provide you with the information you need to keep hearing healthy.  What is too loud?  How can I gauge a decibel level?  What can I do to protect my hearing?  We'll be happy to answer these questions for you!

Continued exposure to noise of 85 dB or louder, over time, will harm your hearing.  Noises above 90-95 dB can only be tolerated for a very short amount of time.  So what is 85 dB?  Let’s put this into perspective:  average conversation speech is between 55-65 dB, a washing machine or busy traffic is between 75-85 dB, while a hair dryer is about 95 dB and a chainsaw is between 100-115 dB.

Fret not!  You can protect your hearing AND enjoy the sounds of summer!  There are so many hearing protection devices available these days from disposable ear plugs to noise cancelling ear muffs and even custom fit ear molds for things like hunting and music.  Most of these don't completely mute all sound, they just bring the sound down to an acceptable decibel range. 

You can read this complete article as well as others on the editorials page of our website.

Blogs, Ads, Articles and more are written by the caring hearing staff at Gilliom Audiology, P.A. in Jacksonville and Jacksonville Beach, FL.  Providing doctoral level hearing care including: hearing test, hearing aids, hearing aid accessories, ear wax removal, and much more!