SOUND ED

Good Hearing Health Is Something You Should Never Take For Granite.

Poor hearing can be more frustrating than blurred vision.  

The effects of hearing loss can be profound, causing frustration/anger and anxiety! 

Hearing loss can interfere with your ability to enjoy socializing with friends, playing with your children or grandchildren, or participating in other social activities you enjoy, and can lead to psychological and social isolation.

So, it best to learn how you can prevent hearing loss. 

Unprotected Exposure To Loud Noise Can Cause all kinds of problems.

In a noisy work environment, loud noise can also create physical and psychological stress, reduce productivity, interfere with communication and concentration, and contribute to workplace accidents and injuries by making it difficult to hear warning signals. 

Noise-induced hearing loss limits your ability to hear high-frequency sounds, understand speech, and seriously impairs your ability to communicate. 

 How does hearing happen?

When sound waves enter the outer ear, the vibrations impact the ear drum and are transmitted to the middle and inner ear. In the middle ear three small bones called the malleus (or hammer), the incus (or anvil), and the stapes (or stirrup) amplify and transmit the vibrations generated by the sound to the inner ear. 

The inner ear contains a snail-like structure called the cochlea which is filled with fluid and lined with cells with very fine hairs. These microscopic hairs move with the vibrations and convert the sound waves into nerve impulses–the result is the sound we hear.

Our ability to hear is astounding and priceless so when we can't control the "TOO LOUD"...we must protect it. And that's so easy to do.

All That Is Or Can Get Loud Enough To Harm Your Hearing And Require Hearing Production. 

Loud Motor Sports, Sporting Events, Shooting, Motorcycle Riding, Loud Hobbies, Loud Occupations, Concerts, Night Clubs, Lawn Mowers & Blowers, Vacuuming 

Musicians/Bands, Animal Shelters, Noisy Offices, Sky Diving, Daycare Centers, Boot Camp.

All Non-Hearing Loss "activities" Where Hearing Protection Is Beneficial.   

Public Commuting, Swimming, Sleeping, Meditation, MRIs,

  Surfing, Shared Living, Loud Neighbors, Airline Travel, City Streets.  

 Exposure to loud noise can destroy these hair cells and cause hearing loss! 

How loud is too loud? Noise is measured in units of sound pressure levels called decibels, named after Alexander Graham Bell, using A-weighted sound levels (dBA). 

The A-weighted sound levels closely match the perception of loudness by the human ear. Decibels are measured on a logarithmic scale which means that a small change in the number of decibels results in a huge change in the amount of noise and the potential damage to a person's hearing.

OSHA sets legal limits on noise exposure in the workplace. These limits are based on a worker's time-weighted average over an 8 hour day.

With noise, OSHA's permissible exposure limit (PEL) is 90 dBA for all workers for an 8 hour day. The OSHA standard uses a 5 dBA exchange rate.

This means that when the noise level is increased by 5 dBA, the amount of time a person can be exposed to a certain noise level to receive the same dose is cut in half. 

By the way, bone conduction refers to the sound being heard, arriving at the cochlea, through one's skull, and body, rather than through one's ear canal.

Since, in addition to the ear canal and middle ear, sound arrives at the cochlea by way of bone conduction, it is important to understand that there is no amount of "sound stopping", in or over the ear, that will completely stop sound from arriving at the cochlea. And to this fact, the highest level of hearing protection possible is around 30 dB. NNR. 

Even if the manufacture has produced something that rates at 33 or 798 dB. NRR. 

Think of a person's head has being a house with walls, windows and doors. Think of earplugs and earmuffs has closing the windows and doors in/over our ears. Now, even if our ears/house have the most fantastic 798 dB. NRR. earplugs/windows and earmuffs/doors that absolutely no sound can penetrate but, as it is, the skull/walls, while thick, is/are not made of any sound-resisting material. 

 What Does NIOSH Say?

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has recommended that all worker exposures to noise should be controlled below a level equivalent to 85 dBA for eight hours to minimize occupational noise-induced hearing loss. 

NIOSH has found that significant noise-induced hearing loss occurs at he exposure levels equivalent to the OSHA PEL based on updated information obtained from literature reviews. 

NIOSH also recommends a 3 dBA exchange rate so that every increase by 3 dBA doubles the amount of noise and cuts by half the recommended amount of exposure time. NIOSH weighed in on the HPD evaluation process in its 1998 Criteria Document.

They suggest a variable derating system to account for differences among types of HPD, with a 25 percent derating for earmuffs (which are harder to misuse); 50 percent for formable/foam earplugs; and 70 percent for all other earplugs.

This complex approach to managing an HPD program can be simplified by using the new NIOSH Hearing Protector Compendium Web site (http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/noise/). 

The compendium factors in the NIOSH derating system when selecting HPD by noise exposure.  Custom molded earplugs that offer individual attenuation analysis and attenuation adjustments to match the HPD to noise exposure of each individual.

Replacing foam ear plugs with custom-molded ear plugs nearly doubled the rate of use.

Put Noise In It's Place (Poem)

Reduce the noise of a crowd roar, the wind at the shore, the neighbors next door and the really loud snorer.

Get peace and quiet on a commuter train, or an 

airplane, or that noisy office before you go insane!

You can use our custom earplugs for years! And 

that's quite a while to conveniently eliminate 

harmful or stress-causing noise in comfort and style.

With All Ear's 30-day guarantee, they are sure to

 put a smile on your face because they so comfortably put noise in it's place! - K. Wolf

 Comfortably Escape Unwanted Noise, Anytime And Anywhere!

There seems to be no end to loud, unwanted noise!!!

You just want to escape it or TURN IT DOWN!

From screaming kids, a spouse that snores, a noisy co-worker, a barking dog or that "Chatty Kathy" that you end up sitting next to on the plane, bus or rail... you may be getting an "Ear Full" of unwanted sounds/NOISE. 
Irritating sounds, or sounds loud enough to cause hearing loss, are in fact, noise pollution.

Noise pollution, like any type of pollution, can have a negative impact on our health and well-being in addition to our hearing.

The good news is, stressful and harmful noise pollution is something you can easily and very comfortably eliminate...along with Chatty Kathy.