Hearing Decibels & Housework: Hearing Hazard Info
In This Post, Learn More About Hearing Decibels and Housework: How to Protect Yourself from Hearing Hazards in the Home. Find Out More
Hearing Decibels and Housework: Hearing Hazards in the Home
Household chores are important, but they can be loud. Click here to learn more about hearing decibels and how to protect yourself from hearing hazards at home.
Keyword(s): hearing decibels
Noise-induced hearing loss is one of the most common work-related injuries and one that goes wildly underreported.
Even if you know you have a loud workplace, you might think of your home as your castle of quiet and solitude. However, if you’re not thinking about hearing decibels and housework, you could be doing more damage at home than at work.
Here are five things to think about to keep your hearing intact at home.
1. Learn About Reflection
While lots of people know loud and painful conditions when they hear them, they don’t always put all the pieces together.
Some of your tasks are louder than others and some rooms are easier to work in than others because of materials around you. As much as you love a certain flooring or wall material, they might be causing you harm.
Reflection in audio is how sound bounces off one surface and hits the ear.
It might hit a surface and slow down, muffling the sound or making it softer. It could also hit a surface and bounce back as hard as when the sound emerged from the source.
Reflection might seem strange to consider around your house while cleaning but you know how much easier it is to vacuum carpet than hardwood.
You’ve tried having a conversation over the painful sound of a hairdryer in a tile bathroom. While bouncing off of surfaces doesn’t usually amplify a sound, it causes a sound to bounce back and cause damage.
If you’ve noticed that sounds in a particular room are louder or more painful, try to come up with alternatives. Or else put in earplugs when you’re in that room.
2. One Thing At a Time
When two sounds come at the same level and hit the same frequency, they can end up adding together. While a 10 dB sound and another 10 dB sound need perfect conditions to become a 20 dB sound, they usually create something louder together.
If you have the washing machine going, the dishwasher running, a blender going, all while vacuuming, congrats on your productivity.
However, your ears aren’t going to enjoy the feeling of being overwhelmed with all of this white noise. Added together, all the vibrations make it painful to think and hard for your ears to manage.
If you’re a parent at home with kids and they start chatting to you, you’ve got the added stress of straining to hear them. You’ll walk into a room that’s over saturated with noise just to have them tell you their favorite cartoon character is on T.V.
Speaking of which, you should also protect the delicate hearing of young kids you’ve got at home.
To avoid the additive stress of loud sounds, run one thing at a time. Don’t try doing everything at once, as much as it might increase your efficiency.
3. Are You Overusing Machines?
While you might love your mechanical equipment or motorized machines for the perceived increase in speed they offer, they might not be doing all that much. If you’re running a dishwasher just to do three minutes worth of dishes, you’re not only wasting resources, but you’re creating noise pollution.
Overusing your expensive equipment when a sponge and two minutes of elbow grease will do also preserves your equipment. They’re not built to last an infinite amount of time. Eventually, they break down and no longer work as well as they once did.
Rather than rely on the heavy hitters for every little thing, use them when it matters.
Get comfortable with a manual chopper for garlic and nuts. It takes just as long and works your muscles a little. A crank coffee grinder doesn’t use electricity and doesn’t wake up your partner in the early morning hours.
Think about your use of machines and how you could be getting more out of manual tools than electrical equipment. Your ears will thank you and so will your wallet.
4. Pump Down The Jams
It’s totally normal to put on some music or the radio when it’s time to get down to cleaning. It makes the time go faster and makes it easier to stay motivated through those tougher tasks.
However, it adds to the amount of noise you’ve got going on at the same time.
Listening to your favorite music while you’re vacuuming or running a loud machine means competition.
As your machine gets louder, your music needs to go up to stay audible. This competition is a race to the bottom for your hearing safety as that increased noise just pummels your hearing without giving you what you’re looking for.
5. Consider Protection
While you might not like the idea of wearing equipment while you clean your home, you should think about hearing protection. If it’s possible you’re doing damage to your hearing, you’re better off not taking the risk.
It’s worth that 15 minutes of discomfort to enjoy decades of good hearing.
As you age, it gets harder to hear the tiny voices of children, which impacts both their safety and your ability to enjoy time with them. If you want to hear your grandkids while you’re in the park with them, you need to think about how sound is impacting your hearing.
You’re never too young to start protecting your hearing.
Hearing Decibels and Housework Need To Be Considered
If you’re not spending any time at all thinking about hearing decibels and housework, you could be doing damage to yourself.
There are so many risks to take when you’re at home, that you may as well prepare for the slow creep of hearing loss. You’ll enjoy life more fully if you protect yourself now.
If you’re considering hearing aids, check out our latest guide to start saving money on them.
Read more:
Need Hearing Aids?: Here’s How to Choose the Right Ones
Early Warning Signs of Hearing Loss — Can You Repeat That
Hereditary Hearing Loss — Everything You Need to Know
