Spectators at pro sports games (eg. pro football, baseball, basketball, etc) need to protect their ears while enjoying the action, say Canadian experts.
According to Statistics Canada, over one million adults across the country report having a hearing-related disability. In the USA, it is estimated one in five teens have suffered permanent hearing damage / hearing loss.
"Each time your ears have been ringing, that is evidence of hearing loss. There's no recovery mechanism in place for the death of those inner ear cells," said Dr. Tim Rindlisbacher in 2014, director of sports health at Cleveland Clinic in Toronto, where he also works with the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts and Mississauga SteeIheads of the Ontario Hockey League.
What he means is that once damaged, the damage is permanent. Your inner ear doesn't heal itself. The damaged parts are effectively dead and useless.
Rindlisbacher believes that season tickets holders over a long period of time could be at considerable risk of noise-induced hearing loss from the various noisemakers, blaring music and loud cheering. Made worse if a person listens to loud music regularly or are exposed to noise at work. "Hearing protection would be a really smart idea," Rindlisbacher said.
Sound intensity is measured in decibels (dB), where a 10 decibel increase in sound is equivalent to a 10-fold increase in energy experienced by the ear.
So 90 dB is actually 10,000 times more energy than 50 dB.
Simple foam ear buds are fairly effective, Rindlisbacher said. Costlier noise-cancelling ear buds can completely eliminate some noise.
The Seattle Seahawks, who defeated the Denver Broncos in Sunday's Super Bowl, hold the record for noisiest stadium in the NFL. An official from Guinness World Records recorded the crowd noise at a Seahawks game in the fall at
137.6 decibels.
Decibel levels
- Conversational speech: 60-70 dB.
- Hair dryer, vacuums, lawnmowers: 80-90 dB.
- Girls screaming at a rock concert: Can be over 100 dB.
Anything above 100 dB is very loud and sustained noise over 85 dB should be avoided.
Rindlisbacher is not alone in warning people that loud sports cause hearing damage.
Prof. Bill Hodgetts of the department of speech pathology and audiology at the University of Alberta in Edmonton published a study in 2006 in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, titled
"Can Hockey Playoffs Harm Your Hearing?" in an effort to raise awareness about noise when people are enjoying themselves at a game.
The noise of an entire NHL playoff game is the equivalent to sitting next to a chainsaw for three hours, says Hodgetts. When the home team scored, the noise was temporarily like a plane taking off.
Hodgetts recommends ear plugs for fans.
Wearing
ear plugs to loud events could prevent
hearing loss and the need to wear
hearing aids later in life.
Anyone in the Vaughan or Woodbridge area of Ontario is recommended to get a
free hearing test at
Omni Hearing in Vaughan.
