Pop! Goes That Balloon, and Maybe Your Hearing

Study found noise can exceed safe levels and perhaps damage inner ear

By Robert Preidt

Friday, February 10, 2017

FRIDAY, Feb. 10, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- Blowing up your kid's birthday balloons could end in a bang -- and hearing loss, new research suggests.

The Canadian study found that a bursting balloon can create sound that's louder than a shotgun and might damage hearing.

"Hearing loss is insidious -- every loud noise that occurs has a potential lifelong impact," said study lead author Bill Hodgetts, an associate professor of audiology at the University of Alberta.

His team measured the noise made by busting balloons three different ways: popping them with a pin, inflating them until they ruptured, and crushing them until they burst.

The loudest noise was made by the ruptured balloon. At 168 decibels, it was louder than a 12-gauge shotgun, according to the investigators.

The maximum impulse level a person is exposed to should not exceed 140 decibels, according to the Canadian Center for Occupational Health and Safety. While the study couldn't prove that popping balloons causes hearing loss, the researchers said that just one exposure higher than that could damage an adult's or child's hearing.

"This research is a conversation starter," Hodgetts said in a university news release. "We are not saying don't play with balloons and don't have fun, just try to guard against popping them.

"We want people to be mindful of hearing damage over a lifetime," he added, "because once you get to the back end of life, no hearing aid is as good as the once healthy built-in system in your inner ear."

The study was published recently in the journal Canadian Audiologist.

SOURCE: University of Alberta, news release, Jan. 30, 2017

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