Noise Awareness Day is Wednesday, April 29. In Minnesota, the Sight & Hearing Association partners with audiology clinics around the state to offer free hearing screenings. Our goal for the day is to educate the public about the dangers of noise to hearing and health. For a location near you, click here.

Noise-induced Hearing Loss
Noise is the leading cause of hearing loss, yet it is completely preventable. More than 28 million Americans have some degree of hearing loss, and by the year 2030, that number is expected to soar to 78 million.

Noise-induced hearing loss makes up at least one-third of all hearing loss. Fifty million Americans have hearing-related conditions like tinnitus, or ringing in the ears. Yet the majority of people haven't had their hearing checked since before kindergarten.

In today's world, noise is all around us - at home, at work and in the activities we choose to do for fun. And, because hearing loss is completely painless, most people don't realize they're damaging their hearing until it's too late.

How do you know if a sound is too loud?
As a general rule, noise may damage your hearing if:
-You have to shout over background noise to make yourself heard
-The noise hurts your ears
-It makes your ears ring
-You have difficulty hearing for several hours after exposure to the noise.

Sound energy is measured in decibels or dBA of sound pressure. 0 dB(A) is the softest level that a person can hear. Normal speaking voices are around 65 dB(A). A rock concert can be about 120 dB(A). Sounds that are 85 dB(A) or above can permanently damage your ears. The more sound pressure a sound has, the less time it takes to cause damage. For example, a sound at 85 dB(A) may take as long at 8 hours to cause permanent damage, while a sound at 100 dB(A) can start damaging hair cells after only 30 minutes of listening

For every 3 decibel increase in volume, your exposure time needs to be reduced in half. (NIOSH and CDC, 2002)
85 dB = 8 hours safe exposure time
88 dB = 4 hours
91 dB = 2 hours
94 dB = 1 hour
97 dB = 30 minutes
100 dB = 15 minutes
103 dB = 7.5 minutes
106 dB = 3.75 minutes
109 dB = 1.875 minutes
112 dB = < 1 minute

Screening Locations