Prevent Hearing Damage: 5 Tips Against Hearing Loss

When we think of hearing loss, we often think of getting older. Age certainly plays a part, but loud music, noisy machines and roaring vehicles can damage your hearing at any age. And that damage is permanent.

The good news: noise damage is easy to prevent. In this article you will learn how to recognise hearing damage, get five tips to protect your ears, and find out what to do if your ears are ringing after a night out.

What is hearing damage?

Your inner ear contains thousands of tiny hair cells. They turn sound vibrations into signals for your brain. Too much or too loud sound overloads those hair cells. At first you notice this as ringing or a muffled feeling, which usually passes. If it happens often, or the sound is extremely loud, hair cells break down. They do not grow back, so the damage is permanent.

Noise is the best-known cause, but hearing damage can also come from ageing, an illness or certain medicines. Noise, however, is the cause you have the most control over.

Recognising hearing damage

Hearing damage often creeps in slowly. You do not notice it from one day to the next, but there are signs you can look out for:

• Ringing in the ears. A beep, whistle or hiss that isn't really there, also called tinnitus. Sometimes you only hear it in a quiet room, sometimes it is there all day.
• You hear some tones less well. Healthy hearing picks up tones between roughly 20 and 20,000 hertz. With noise damage, the high tones usually go first. Other sounds can actually sound shrill or too loud.
• Trouble with intonation and direction. Stress and nuance in a voice become harder to follow. If one ear hears worse than the other, it also becomes harder to tell where a sound is coming from.
• The TV or radio keeps going up. That is not because your ears get used to the volume, but because hair cells have been lost. The remaining cells need more stimulation to pass on a signal.
• Conversations in busy places get harder. In a full café or at a party, you miss more and more words.

Do you recognise one or more of these signs? Then have your hearing tested, for example through your GP. The sooner you know, the better you can protect the hearing you still have. If you work in noise, you are often entitled to a hearing test through your employer: under EU rules that applies above 85 dB(A), and national rules can go further. We carry out these hearing tests on site at companies.

Five tips to prevent hearing damage

1. Wear hearing protection

The best thing you can do is wear hearing protection as soon as it gets loud. If you work with noisy machines, wear earplugs or earmuffs. Going to concerts, clubs or festivals? Take earplugs with you and actually put them in, before your ears start ringing.

There are many types of hearing protection. Foam earplugs attenuate a lot on paper, but are often not inserted properly and make music sound dull. Earplugs with a music filter keep the sound clear. Custom-made earplugs are made from an impression of your ear, so they seal the most reliably. For children there are earplugs and earmuffs in their size.

2. Keep your distance

The closer you are to the source, the louder the sound that reaches your ears. So keep your distance from the speakers at a concert or festival, and don’t stand right next to a machine if you don’t have to. A few metres further away already makes a noticeable difference.

3. Give your ears a rest

During a concert, festival or long working day, take a break somewhere quiet now and then. It gives your ears a chance to recover. After an evening in loud noise, give your ears time to recover. Don’t head straight back to a noisy place the next day, and keep your music a bit quieter for a while. At a festival lasting several days, find a quieter spot regularly, and don’t forget your earplugs there either.

4. Watch how loud and how long

Whether sound causes damage depends on how loud it is and how long you are exposed. A common rule of thumb: 80 dB is safe for eight hours a day. Every 3 dB more halves that time: 83 dB is 4 hours, 86 dB 2 hours and 89 dB 1 hour. A crying child or a hairdryer on its highest setting is around 80 dB.

With louder sound, it goes quickly. In a packed club at about 100 dB, you reach your daily dose after around 5 minutes. A chainsaw reaches about 110 dB (if you do a lot of DIY, earplugs for DIY are worth it); then it takes less than a minute. The pain threshold is around 120 to 130 dB, and a bang of 140 dB, such as a gunshot at close range, can cause permanent damage in one go (that is why there is dedicated hearing protection for shooting sports). The same goes for fireworks going off close by; read more in earplugs for fireworks. You will find a full table of examples in how many decibels is harmful.

5. Listen to the signals from your ears

Your hearing has its own warning system. A whistling tone, ringing in the ears, temporarily hearing less or a feeling of pressure after loud noise all mean your ears have had too much. Take that seriously and protect your ears better next time.

And don’t poke around in your ear canal yourself, not even when your ear feels blocked. Cotton buds often push earwax deeper. If earwax is bothering you, you can have it removed safely, for example by us at our locations in the Netherlands.

Ringing in your ears after a night out: what now?

You get home from a concert or a night at the club and there it is: a high-pitched beep or hiss in your ears. Almost everyone has had it. It means your hair cells have been overloaded.

What can you do?

• Give your ears a rest and avoid loud noise for the next few days, including your headphones.
• Do you mainly notice the ringing when it's quiet? A soft background sound, such as a fan or quiet music, makes it less noticeable.
• The ringing usually fades within a few hours to a few days. If it hasn't gone after a few days, or you also hear less, make an appointment with your GP.
• Wear earplugs next time. Even if the ringing goes away, there may be damage you only notice later.

For some people the ringing never goes away. That is called chronic tinnitus. It can have a big impact on your sleep, concentration and mood. Want to know which sound you are hearing? Try the tinnitus test with real sounds. How to stop it getting that far is explained in how to prevent tinnitus. And if you go out a lot, also read our tips on earplugs for going out.

Protect your ears with custom earplugs

Earplugs you don’t put in don’t protect you. That is why comfort matters so much: earplugs that feel good stay in all evening or all working day. Custom earplugs seal well and have a filter that brings the volume down, while music and conversations stay clear. Looking for a pair for concerts and festivals? Take a look at music earplugs.

Custom earplugsHave your earplugs fittedWe take an impression of your ears and choose the filter that suits you together. Not near one of our locations? Have impressions taken locally and send them to us. Book a free fitting