National Protect Your Hearing Month
I love seeing live music, concerts, shows and even orchestra concerts. I have been in attendance at many live shows, concerts, rock events and venues around Denver since before I even moved here in 2006. We would make it a whole night with friends to travel from Laramie to Denver and see a famous band or a show. After a rather fun night with friends at a show in 2003, I realized that my ears were ringing, pretty loudly. I decided then and there that I needed to take action to protect my hearing if I was to continue rocking out in D-town.
That ringing, it’s just temporary and may last one or two days and then go away, right? Did you know that the ringing is your sensitive ear fibers being damaged; this damage is permanent. If you think that your ears will just heal each time you go rock out, think again. If you haven’t been using ear protection for anything over 85 decibels (db) for extended periods of time, you may already have some permanent hearing damage. Eighty-five decibels is equivalent to a lawn mower or chainsaw. A rock concert is definitely louder than that, isn’t it? Be informed that protecting your hearing is cool at any age. If you are young, take action now to prevent future hearing damage. If you are older, now is the time to protect your hearing and the ear fibers that you have left.
Ways to protect your hearing may be as simple as turning the volume down on your music or TV when you are rocking out at home. Take a break from the noise as you are able to or avoid loud places all together. When you are using hearing protection for those loud things, such as mowing the lawn and celebrating a neighborhood fireworks show, research what your preferred ear protection is. You can use noise-canceling earbuds, headphones, or even get cheap one-time use earplugs for the concert or show that you know will be loud. I promise, wearing earplugs will not make you look any less cool or dance less hard at that rock show. Going to sleep and reminiscing of a good night with good music should not involve a ringing in your ears.
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