For the lucky ones, their
hearing returns, but many must live with their hearing loss or tinnitus for the
rest of their lives. There is no cure for noise induced hearing damage. But you
can easily prevent it.
Two thousandth of a second is
all it takes for an exploding firecracker to put out the noise intensity to put
your hearing at risk for life. The burst of noise is so short that you may not
sense its true intensity. Perhaps you love the thrill of fireworks, but you better watch out and be aware that*:
- 1 in 10,000 people suffer permanent hearing damage because of fireworks
- Young adults under the age of 25 are three times more likely than other groups to suffer fireworks related hearing damage
- The loud sounds from fireworks can cause hearing loss if
protection is not used. The noise levels produced by fireworks can reach
150-175dB. The recommendation from World Health Organisation is not to be
exposed to more than 140dB of peak sound pressure for adults and 120dB for
children.
- Infants generally experience the greatest sound pressure and should not be exposed to fireworks.
Take Precautions
Guy Fawkes Night will be
celebrated but take care of yourself and each other. Use earplugs to protect
your hearing. Simple off the shelf ear plugs would do the trick and for the
little ones there are fantastic, inexpensive noise breaker ear defenders - which look pretty cool also.
Make sure that no one else is standing too close when you light the
fuse of your fireworks. Most of those suffering hearing damage did not cause it
themselves. They suffered the bad luck of being too close to the fireworks of
others.
If dealing with fireworks of 170 dB, adults needs to be 15 to 20 meters away from the fireworks before they are at a safe distance, while children have to be 50 to 60 meters away from the same fireworks.
*These conclusions were based
on a study of hearing injuries related to fireworks celebrations in Germany,
2000.
