When you were a teenager and cranked the radio up to full volume, you weren’t thinking about how this could harm your health. You just enjoyed the music.
As you grew, you probably indulged in evenings out at loud movies and concerts. It may even be common for you to have experienced loud noise at work. Long term health concerns were the furthest thing from your mind.
You probably know differently now. Noise-induced hearing loss can appear in children as young as 12. But did you realize that sound is so formidable that it can even be used as a weapon?
Can You Get Ill From Sound?
In fact, it Can. Particular sounds can evidently make you ill according to doctors and scientists. This is why.
How Loud Sound Affects Health
The inner ear can be injured by extremely loud sounds. You have tiny hairs that detect +
vibrations after they pass through the eardrum membrane. These hairs never regenerate once they are destroyed. Many people, as they age, deal with sensorineural hearing loss caused by this.
Harmful volume starts at 85 decibels over an 8 hour period of time. If you’re subjected to over 100 dB, lasting impairment occurs within 15 minutes. At 120 dB, the volume of a rock concert, instant, irreversible impairment will take place.
Cardiovascular wellness can also be impacted by noise. Obesity, high blood pressure, clogged arteries, and other vascular concerns can be the outcome of increased stress hormones brought on by overly loud noise. This could explain the headaches and memory problems that individuals subjected to loud noise complain about. Cardiovascular health is strongly linked to these symptoms.
In fact, one study showed that sound volumes that begin to affect the heart, and hormones are as low a 45 decibels. A person talking with a quiet indoor voice is at this volume level.
Your Health is Impacted by Some Sound Frequencies – Here’s How
Several years ago, diplomats in Cuba got sick when subjected to sounds. The sound in Cuba wasn’t that loud. They were able to block it out with a tv. How could it have made people ill?
Frequency is the answer.
High Frequency
Even at lower volumes, significant damage can be done by some high-frequency sound.
Have you ever cringed when someone scratched their nails on a chalkboard? Have you ever pleaded with a co-worker to stop as they run their fingers across a folded piece of paper? Have you ever had to cover your ears during a violin recital?
If you’ve felt the power of high-pitched sounds, the pain you felt was in fact damage being done to your hearing. The damage could have become irreversible if you’ve subjected yourself to this sort of sound repeatedly for longer time periods.
Studies have also discovered that damage can be done even if you can’t hear the sound. High-frequency sounds coming from trains, sensors, machinery, and other man-made devices may be emitting frequencies that do damage with too much exposure.
Low Frequency
Very low-frequency sound known as “infrasound” can also impact your health. The vibrations can make you feel disoriented and physically sick. Some even get flashes of light and color that are typical in migraine sufferers.
Protecting Your Hearing
Be aware of how you feel about specific sounds. If you’re feeling pain or other symptoms when you’re exposed to particular sounds, limit your exposure. If you’re experiencing pain in your ears, you’re probably doing damage.
In order to understand how your hearing could be changing over time, contact a hearing specialist for an exam.