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If You Already Have Hearing Loss, Are You Susceptible to Noise Damage?

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For example it takes a normal hearing person 85 db for 8 hours as a guideline for hearing damage.

When you have a hearing loss ( mild, moderate, severe…etc.) do you use the same damage criteria that is it will take 85 db for 8 hours to damage your remaining hearing or is your

ear since it has a hearing loss will now be easier to damage at a lowered decibel level, let’s say when it was normal hearing it takes 85 db for 8 hours damage. but now with a hearing loss it

might just take 80 or 75 db for 8 hours to damage your remaining hearing?

For example, a guy who has normal hearing his threshold from 125-8khz is within 15 decibels, according to the ohsa guideline it says he can listen to 85 db for roughly 8 hours and he should not have any hearing loss if he doesn’t go over 85 db or listen to 85 db for more than 8 hours. Now the same guy after several years has passed has gotten hearing loss, now he has let’s say 125-3khz at 35 db , 3khz-6khz at 45 db, and 8khz 50 db. Is it going to be the same noise intensity 85 db for roughly 8 hours to damage his remaining hearing now that he has a mild-moderate hearing loss? So is he still using the same guideline? Or will it go down to only 80 decibel of noise for roughly 8 hours now to damage his hearing?

can anyone with hearing loss chime in, do you guys still use the same 85 db for 8 hours guide to prevent damage?

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Edited

Short answer is yes, since you already have damaged your cochlear and have already lost some of your inner and outer hair cells, you therefore have less to loose. When I was diagnosed with hearing loss in the fourth grade the told me to protect what I had left because once you have lost them they are gone for good. He also told me to avoid prolonged exposure to loud noises, don’t shoot guns, don’t go to rock concerts and if you use power tools always use noise suppressing ear muffs.

By the way you only need to ask your question in one area and this question should be asked in the discussion on hearing loss section.

is it because you are borned with 20000 hair cells, and with hearing loss you just lose a number of hair cells, but the remaining hair cell are healthy therefore they take the same amount of intensity 85 decibel for 8 hours to damage them as if compared to a person with normal hearing…

having a hearing loss doesnt mean susceptible to noise at a lower intensity because the remaining hearing you have got those hair cells you got remaining are still healthy it’s just they are not as many hair cells as there are in the case of normal hearing but the hair cells structure are still intact.

Edited

Noise exposure will take out healthy hair cells, since the ones you had but lost were healthy prior to losing them. Protect what you have left, wear ear protection!

@seb said:

Noise exposure will take out healthy hair cells, since the ones you had but lost were healthy prior to losing them. Protect what you have left, wear ear protection!

and we start protecting when we are exposed to a continuous sound of 85 decibel for a long time and that is the protection point is starting at 85 decibel right?

@hearing314 said:

and we start protecting when we are exposed to a continuous sound of 85 decibel for a long time and that is the protection point is starting at 85 decibel right?

I protect mine whenever I am going to be exposed to any continuous noise.

When at a noisy conference dinner, I downloaded an app to my iPhone, to measure the noise level. When it showed the dance music peaking at 98 and a base level of 85-90 dB I decided not to stay. I don’t want to lose any more hearing. I do not know how accurate the app is but suspect it was pretty close. It was very loud.

Absolutely! Having a hearing loss doesn’t make the nerves you have left any more “tough.” You simply wont realize how much damage you are causing but you will certainly cause more.

Try to get the app calibrated. I tried two Android DB apps in the same room. One said 105 DB and the other said 80 DB. It relates to how sensitive the author’s mic was, I am guessing.

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