We’ve been getting excited about summer fun all year: trips to the beach, relaxing by the swimming pool, and impaired hearing? That’s correct, summer has a lot of hidden hazards to your ears, either from loud noises or the environmental scenarios you might find yourself in. Any sounds above 80 decibels could injure your ears, while permanent loss of hearing can take hold in swimming pools or other bodies of water. You have to take preventative measures and be aware of your environment so that you can protect your hearing this summer. Here are six of the summer’s hidden hearing risks.
When You Travel to Concerts, Put on Ear Protection
Whether you’re at an indoor venue or an outside concert venue you still should use ear protection during concerts. Concerts can have volumes that are over 90 decibels, even at outdoor shows, which is inside of the danger zone of hearing loss. That’s why it’s definitely a smart strategy to wear earplugs regardless of whether you’re seeing a show outdoors or indoors. You can still hear the music with earplugs in it’s just dampened a little. If you’re going to a concert with young children, consider buying them a heavy duty set of earmuffs since their hearing is much more sensitive than those of adults.
Fireworks Are More Than Just Loud
Honestly, there are a lot of reasons to avoid fireworks in the summer. We’re not talking about the specialized 4th of July fireworks show, we mean the backyard fireworks which every summertime cause many of injuries. In addition to causing hand traumas, blindness, and house fires, backyard fireworks can also result in serious harm to your ears since they are known to achieve decibel levels of 155. This 4th of July, leave the fireworks to the professionals and enjoy the show from a safe and sound distance.
Loss of Hearing Can be Brought About by Lawnmowers
If you care about your lawn, mower, edger, and trimer are your best friends. But that muffled feeling in your ears is an indication that your hearing has been damaged. That’s because the constant noise from your lawn tools have a slow and steady impact on your hearing. No doubt you’ve noticed lawn professionals wearing some form of hearing protection, next time you do yard work with loud power equipment, you need to take a hint from them and use earplugs or earmuffs.
Beaches And Pools, What You Need to do to Protect Your Ears
Millions of people suffer from swimmer’s ear each summer, which occurs when bacteria-loaded water becomes trapped inside your ear canal. The bacteria will then infect the ear, leading to painful earaches and swelling. It’s not just lakes and rivers that hold these bacteria, they can sometimes be found in pools and hot tubs if they are not cleaned and treated properly. No permanent damage should happen if you get your hearing examined by a hearing specialist. To counter swimmer’s ear, however, you should wear special swimming earplugs in the pool and get your pool water analyzed to make sure the chemical balance is safe.
Boats and Other Water Sports
If you enjoy the water, summer is beach and boating time for you. But, boat and jet ski engines are often noisy,they can get up to more than 100 decibels. Sustained exposure to that kind of noise for around 15 minutes can lead to permanent hearing impairment. Once more, it’s really a smart choice to wear a set of disposable, foam earplugs when you’re out on the water to make sure you don’t accidentally harm your hearing.
Your Ears Can be Damaged by Car Races
It doesn’t matter what type of auto racing you enjoy, motorcycle, midget, Formula 1, drag racing or stock cars. Each one of them can cause a huge problem for your hearing if you attend race after race this summer season. 120 dB is well within the danger zone for hearing impairment and quite a few races go well above this. Earplugs are your best bet at these races, while your children should definitely use the earmuffs we mentioned earlier. Otherwise, you may not get to enjoy the sound of those engines in the future.