Normally this article would be designed to improve some element of your psychological life. That’s what most business education focuses on, after all – improving ourselves, or our processes, or our relationships with others. But we shouldn’t neglect the importance of improving our physical lives, and anyway I’m going to a couple concerts this month, so get ready for a crash course on hearing protection!
It’s estimated that 22 million workers are regularly exposed to hazardous noise levels at work, and that’s just in the US. Hearing loss is irreversible, but fortunately, it’s pretty easy to prevent.
First, let’s cover the basics of sound. Volume is measured in decibels, which is abbreviated like dB. I have no idea why the B is capitalized and not the d, and I’ll bet audiologists don’t know either. English is a dumb language. Anyway, OSHA has set 85 dBs as the maximum acceptable noise limit for working without hearing protection. At 85 decibels, you should be able to work for 8 hours with no problem.
Now here’s the fun part. Literally every tool you use is louder than 85 dBs Belt sanders, table saws, routers, chainsaws, impact wrenches, jackhammers, lawn mowers, grinders, jet engines, electric guitars at the concerts I’m going to this month – all of those things are loud enough to cause hearing damage. Another fun fact – at around 150 dBs your eardrums will burst, and somewhere between 185-200dBs, you will actually die.
Now you might be wondering what the big deal is. A safe noise limit is 85 decibels, and pretty much all the “unsafe” things we use are only barely above that, somewhere between 90 and 110dB. That’s where the nature of the decibel scale becomes important to understand. Why? Because for every 5 dB decibel increase, you’re basically doubling the intensity of the sound. So while you can listen to 85 decibels all day long, you can only handle 95 decibels for approximately an hour, and 100 decibels for only 15 minutes before you’ll suffer irreversible hearing loss.
That’s why hearing protection is so important. Most earplugs or earmuffs will reduce decibel levels by somewhere between 15 and 35 dBs, which in most cases is exactly the difference between safe listening levels and, “WHAT’D YOU SAY? I CAN’T HEAR YOU, SPEAK UP!!!!”
I said this once already, but I’ve run out of new things to say, so I’m saying it again. Hearing loss can’t be fixed. Once you’ve lost some or all of your hearing, it is gone forever. Wearing ear protection takes 5 seconds, and will make sure you always get to hear your favorite things, like waterfalls or the gentle clink of coins in the bin when you win at slots. Which, by the way, always seems to be happening to the person next to me. Stay Safe!
This article is adapted from our training course on Effective Use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
Check it out on LevityUniversity.com!
