Exposure to Noise
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 22 million workers are exposed to potentially damaging noise each year[i]. The Air Transport Group estimates that over 4 billion passengers traveling a single year
Are you one of those travelers?
The Aircraft manufacturers are doing a good job of reducing cabin noise, but noise can be highly subjective. What one passenger finds relaxing others consider nauseating.
The impact is long exposure to noise, or Time Weighted Average (TWA) over 85 dbA, in any situation is damaging to the ear and can cause other issues. Abrupt noise can harm the eardrum, while sustained sounds at lower volume can damage the middle ear; both sounds can cause psychological damage. Noise disrupts sleep and communication, and numerous studies have documented the heart-related, respiratory, neurological, and other physiological effects of noise.
Typical Noise Segments
“As a general tendency, continuous noise levels were seen to be 60-65 dB(A) prior to takeoff, and 80-85 dB(A) and 75-80 dB(A) during flight and landing, respectively. Discontinuous in-cabin noise levels were observed to reach levels as high as 81-88 dB(A) range.”[ii]
Stress, high blood pressure, anger, and frustration, lower resistance to disease and infection, circulatory problems, ulcers, asthma, colitis, headaches, gastrointestinal disorders, and many other physiological and psychological problems have been linked directly to noise.[iii]
The real fix are design changes to the aircraft to reduce noise. This doesn’t seem to be happening soon with the average age of aircraft in use nearing 30 years.[iv]
Whether you work at a sports venue, on a tarmac, at a music studio or theater, or operate a jackhammer, or are traveling—hearing loss is preventable.
The best approach is the reduction of noise at the receiver, the ears. The use of hearing protection is the main form of receiver protection. Over the Ear, Passive Isolation headphones like the Serenity II Headphones can reduce the ambient noise to a reasonable and relaxing level.
[i] https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/noise/about.html [ii] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/27707279., https://bit.ly/3oKT4Ie [iii] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3341916/ [iv] https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/nothing-but-a-number-aircraft-age-explained
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