CDC Environmental Health Homepage Update

Loud Noise Can Cause Hearing Loss | NCEH

Listen Up! Protect Your Hearing From Air Horns

To protect your hearing, use ear protection at sporting events -- and don't use air horns.

Sports events like basketball or football games can be exciting, but they're also noisy. And the air horns that blast when your team scores are especially loud -- loud enough to damage your hearingimmediately.

Being around too much loud noise can make you lose your hearing. And once it's gone, you can't get it back.

DID YOU KNOW?

• Loudness is measured in decibels (dB)           
• Over time, any sound that's 85 decibels or higher can cause hearing loss -- or other hearing problems, like tinnitus (a ringing sound in your ears that won't go away).
• An air horn is 129 decibels. That's loud enough to cause immediate harm to your ears.
• The louder a sound is, and the longer you listen to it, the more it can damage your hearing

Here's the good news: You can protect your hearing from air horns and still enjoy your favorite sporting events!

To protect your hearing:

• Use hearing protection such as earplugs or noise-cancelling headphones.
• Stay away from loud noises. If you can't get away fast enough, you can also plug your ears with your fingers.
• Don't use air horns and encourage others not to use them, either.

You could hurt the hearing of everyone around you. It's not worth it!