Temporary damage to the hearing is incurred when you hear a beeping, buzzing, ringing or hissing sound in your ears after a concert or festival. Your brain has been forced to process to much sound and thus produces sound itself. At least, this is what it feels like because you are the only person to hear that sound.
The medical term for this is tinnitus. In the night-life scene, this is also known as ‘disco ears’. You can also recognize temporary damage if a little loudness is already painful. This is called hyperacusis.
Tinnitus caused by hearing damage
There are many ways to suffer tinnitus. Hearing damage is by far the most common. Other causes of tinnitus are stress, medicines, trauma to the head or neck and a recurring ear infection. Many different diseases can also involve tinnitus.
You can suffer tinnitus by being in an environment with loud noises for too long. The louder the noise, the shorter you can stay in this environment without being at risks. This overview forms an indication:
| Volume | Time before risk of suffering hearing damage | Example of noise volume |
| 120 decibels | Immediate | Dance event, pop concert |
| 110 decibels | Immediate | Dance event, pop concert, drums, chainsaw |
| 100 decibels | After 5 minutes | Dance event, pop concert |
| 95 decibels | After 15 minutes | Dance event, pop concert, violin |
| 92 decibels | After 30 minutes | Pop concert |
| 89 decibels | After 1 hour | A truck at full speed |
| 86 decibels | After 2 hours | A train at full speed, a saw, a mixer |
| 83 decibels | After 4 hours | Traffic noise |
| 80 decibels | After 8 hours | City noise |
| 77 decibels | No risk of suffering hearing damage | Loud conversation |
As soon as you are bothered by this, you must use hearing protection to prevent this damage from becoming permanent. The most important action to take is prevention. You can find five tips to prevent tinnitus below.
Prevention & protection
Millions of people in the world suffer from hearing loss and hearing damage, and sadly, not everything can be cured with a hearing aid or antibiotics. That is why we believe in the power of prevention and that ear protection is the way to go to keep your ears and hearing in tip-top shape. Preventing hearing loss and damage is easy, it’s mostly a case of using one’s common sense:
- Avoid (long-term exposure to) loud noises of >85 decibels
- Use ear protection when you know you’ll be exposed to loud noise.
- Never put your volume on max when listening to music over head or earphones
- Make sure your employer has precautions in place if loud noises are part of your job
- Go to the doctor as soon as you notice something wrong with your hearing
Ear protection
Even though not all forms of hearing loss and damage can be prevented, a lot of the time, wearing proper ear protection can make all the difference. You can protect your ears by using earplugs, noise-cancelling headphones and/or earmuffs aka ear defenders. But how do you know if the ear protection that you choose is adequate? Easy! Just check the NRR. All ear protection devices receive a Noise Reduction Rating (NRR). The NRR determines the effectiveness of hearing protection devices. The higher the NRR, the higher and more effective your ear protection will be.
We offer high-quality, high-NRR ear protection for adults and children in the form of multiple universal filter earplugs and earmuffs for every possible situation. Protect your ears and get a pair today!
