Dangerous to Hearing

Hearing mechanism

The ear has three main parts: the outer, the middle, and the inner ear. When a sound is produced, the vibrations (or waves) created go through the ear canal in the outer ear, until they reach the tympanic membrane in the middle ear, causing it and the attached bones to vibrate. Those vibrations are transmitted to the hearing nerve in the inner ear, where they become nerve impulses and go directly to the brain, which interprets them as sound.

Dangerous to hearing

Noise can be dangerous to the ear. When it is too loud and lasts too long, noise begins to kill the nerve endings in the inner ear. As the exposure time to loud noise increases, more nerve endings are destroyed, and as the number of nerve endings decreases, so does the hearing.

How to tell if it is dangerous?

As a general rule, noise may damage your ears, if you have to shout to make yourself heard, if the noise hurts your ears, makes your ears ring, or if you have difficulty hearing several hours after exposure to the noise.

According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the exposure limit to noise for the workday is 85 dBA for 8 hours; being exposed for longer or to a higher intensity is hazardous. At levels higher than this exposure, hearing loss can occur.

How do they measure sound?

As the human ear perceives sound differently, they use the A-weighed scale (dBA). This scale is the one that resembles the human ear the most in how it perceives the loudness of sound in the air, making it the most accurate way to measure the sounds that affect us.

Some tips to make good measurements/recordings with your phone

• Find the sound you want to measure/record

• Know where the microphone is located on your phone. It is usually at the base of the phone

• Put the microphone away from you

• Put the mic towards the sound you are trying to measure/record

• Avoid talking (So you don’t record your voice instead of the sound)

• Avoid moving or touching the phone/mic while recording

• Put the microphone away from you

• Don’t put anything between the microphone and the sound you are trying to record