As Independence Day approaches – complete with its cacophony of celebratory music, boaters’ engines, and fireworks shows – experts warn of the subtle, but permanent, effects the holiday can have on hearing.
“A single exposure might not result in damage, but the cumulative effect across the day – the soundscape or the noise-scape of the day – can be enough to put you over the edge,” Dr. Lori Pakulski, a pediatric audiologist and professor of speech-language pathology at University of Toledo, said of the Fourth of July’s signature sounds.
Fireworks produce sound output ranging anywhere from 150 to 175 decibels. For context, prolonged exposure to any sound above 85 decibels is considered dangerous and could cause hearing damage or loss. A typical conversation’s volume ranges from 60 to 70 decibels, and a running boat engine sits at about 80 to 90 decibels.
The World Health Organization estimates that 1 billion young people aged 12 to 35 are at risk of noise-induced hearing loss due to recreational exposure to high-volume sounds.
“Most people don't go into the Fourth of July thinking, ‘Oh, I have to protect my ears.’ This is not something we generally look at. In fact, in society, we really kind of overlook hearing loss,” Dr. Pakulski said. “And so I would just remind people that you may not realize how precious it is, but in a few years, if it changes, it's going to affect you dramatically.”
According to Dr, R.W. Mills, chief medical officer for Nationwide Children’s Hospital - Toledo, there is an uptick in cases of hearing damage after the Fourth’s festivities.
Dr. Pakulski recommends individuals take advantage of modern technology to protect their hearing by downloading apps on their cell phones or smart watches that detect exposure to noise at unsafe levels.
More so, Dr. Pakulski emphasized the importance of creating distance between oneself and loud sounds.
Ultimately, however, the most important factor for preventing hearing damage is minimizing the cumulative exposure to high volumes.
“If you know you're going to be listening to fireworks and they might be on the louder side, if you can't control for distance as much as you would like, then maybe earlier in the day, don't have the loud music playing, or if you're on the boat, anchor it and turn the motor off,” she suggested. “Do things that help minimize the amount of noise that you're going to be exposed to in a given day.”
According to Dr. Pakulski, the damage sustained by short bursts of loud sound, like the ones often associated with Fourth of July, have the potential to cause immediate, short-term effects, but, usually, accumulate over time into detrimental long-term effects.
“Sometimes you'll notice a temporary change, or you'll notice ringing in your ears, but then the next day, you wake up and you feel fine and you think everything is fine,” she said. “But 20 years down the road, you end up with a significant hearing loss because the nature of it is the damage occurs gradually and accumulates over time when you're exposed to something like a firecracker.”
Effects compounded in children
Children, in particular, are at risk for hearing damage as they are still developing, and younger kids are often unable to remove themselves from loud situations or inform their parents that they’re feeling symptoms of hearing damage, such as ringing ears or atypical difficulty hearing.
“Specific events, such as fireworks and fireworks shows, firecrackers – what we call impact noises or people also call impulse noises – those single, loud, explosive noises for kids can be really devastating and can have significant, permanent impact,” Dr. Mills said.
Like Dr. Pakulski, Dr. Mills also warned of the cumulative effects of noise exposure.
“The effect of noise on kids is cumulative over their lifetime. So it's not only how loud something is, but also how long you're exposed to it, and it can be incredibly impactful, but also instantaneously damaging,” he said.
The hearing loss caused by sudden, loud noises is due to sustained damage to hair cells in the cochlea, which are sensory cells in the inner ear that detect sound waves and head motion and convert them into electrical signals and receptor potentials, thus playing a key role in sound perception and the mammalian sense of hearing.
According to Dr. Mills, these cells can be permanently impacted by a single large sound, such as the explosion of a firecracker.
Once the damage has been done, there is not much doctors can do to mend hearing. They will often just encourage people to do their best to protect their hearing moving forward. If hearing loss becomes bad enough, patients can be fitted with hearing aids.
According to Dr. Mills, children overexposed to loud noise at a young age may encounter language delays and developmental delays. Older children who experience hearing damage may begin turning up the TV or reading lips to understand what someone is saying.
Dr. Mills recommends that parents take extra precaution to distance their children – especially those who can’t communicate that something is too loud for their comfort – from any sounds that will be in a significant decibel range. He advised at least 500 feet of distance between observers and launching fireworks. He also recommended earmuffs or noise-canceling headphones for everyone, but was wary of ear plugs for young children.
“Older kids can use the earplugs, but you have to be real careful with earplugs for infants and toddlers and younger kids because they can become a choking hazard,” he said.
If nothing else, people should still try to protect their ears by plugging them with their fingers.
Don’t forget the animals
People should also look out for their pets amidst the loud noises associated with Independence Day.
“Those things can be very stressful. My last Terrier, every time he heard thunder or loud noises, he would start cowering and want to be up on the bed with us, as close as possible to us,” Stephen Heaven, President and CEO of the Toledo Humane Society, said.
According to Mr. Heaven, how dogs react to the stress of loud sounds will vary for each animal, but owners should be prepared to relieve that stress in whatever way best soothes their pet, whether that is by putting them in a closed, confined space or by allowing them to nestle up with them. Ultimately, owners should try to help their dog feel most secure, and Mr. Heaven said owners usually know how to do this.
“Another thing you could buy is what they call a thunder shirt, which is like a coat,” he said. “And you can put that on the dog and that gives a more comforting feel to them.”
Mr. Heaven also said that if an animal’s anxiety surrounding loud noises is particularly strong, owners should contact their veterinarians, who can perhaps prescribe medications to mitigate stress and anxiety such as trazodone or gabapentin.
Contact Lily Belle Poling at lbpoling@theblade.com
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