Source: Unknown
Four years ago I became concerned about my hearing. I would be making dinner and Rom or Link would be trying to carry on a conversation with me from the adjoining room. I couldn’t hear them well enough to reply and they would get annoyed. I told them I would’t answer them unless they came to see me. That didn’t go over too well. They felt like they had to book an audience with The Queen! Meanwhile, I always went to the rooms they were in to speak to them, instead of yelling throughout the house.
I’ve never had any hearing problems in the office (maybe just listening problems, LOL!) but I have been going to rock concerts since I was 15. So I thought, “OK, I’ve finally done it. I have hearing loss.” I booked an appointment with an audiologist.
Imagine my delight when the audiologist told me my hearing was perfectly normal! “Your family has unrealistic expectations,” she said. YES!
My iPad app, Decibel 10th. Rom uses Sound Meter on his android phone.
This week Rom downloaded a decibel meter app on his cell phone and of course, I had to have one too. I was amazed at the noise level of everyday activities at home:
- Empty room, 37 dB
- Empty kitchen with fridge on, 45 dB
- Watching TV alone, 45 dB
- Outside on my doorstep in the evening, 45 dB (quiet neighbourhood!)
- Dishwasher on, 60-65 dB
- Microwave on, 60-65 dB
- Kettle boiling, 65-70 dB
- Washing machine on, 65 dB
- Bathroom fan on, 65 dB
- Toilet flushing, 75 dB
- Inside car while driving, 75 dB
- Running water from the tap, 75-80 dB
- Shower on, 80 dB
- Vacuum cleaner on, 80 dB
- Stove timer, 80 dB
- Microwave beep, 85 dB
No wonder I can’t hear anyone speak to me from another room! Keep in mind that the decibel scale is not like a percentage scale: a difference of 10 dB is TWICE as loud, so for example, the vacuum cleaner (80 dB) is FOUR TIMES as loud as the dishwasher (60 dB) – not 20% louder! (Source)
Photo: harborfreight.com
We attended a music festival 4 nights this week and sampled with our decibel apps (geek fun!) My average reading was 92. Eight hours of 90 dB noise will start to cause hearing loss, which is cumulative and irreversible. I have been wearing earplugs to rock shows for about 5 years now. I just buy the drugstore ones which are similar to memory foam. The package says they can reduce noise by 30 dB. With the earplugs, I can attend a 4-hour concert with no pain, ringing in the ears or muffled hearing afterwards. Most of the serious music fans of all ages now wear them so it’s not embarrassing – just about everyone uses the orange ones!
I hope those of you with “devices” will download an app and do some noise metering of your everyday activities (or assign this to your kids). It’s a real wake-up call!
I will leave you with this link about protecting your hearing. Meanwhile I have been resting my ears for the recommended 16 hours after loud noise exposure!
An Exacting Life 
Very interesting! I have wondered about my hearing too…. Why does everyone want to talk to me when I’m two rooms away. And expect me to respond? I wonder how many decibels the elementary school cafeteria is? Hmmm
I am trying to train the kids at the library to walk across the room to talk to their friends instead of yelling across. It’s a losing battle.
Wait… so the television and refrigerator make the same amount of noise? That’s sorta mind boggling!
Well, that’s the normal TV volume I like. I have to turn it way up if Rom is talking to me at the same time! And of course the TV ads are way louder.
Oh my gosh, I’m in trouble for only part hearing what the bf says when he is right beside me! I think it’s usually cause I’m not actively listening! Like you, i have no problems at work. Actually our hearing is tested before we’re employed, I gather industrial deafness is a problem.
Ditto for me – Rom is rather loquacious, shall we say?
Hahaha I wouldn’t call the BF talkative, so I should hang on every word!
I like to watch TV shows on my laptop while I wash the dishes and sometimes have to wear headphones to hear them over the noise of the tap running. I thought this was just because my computer doesn’t have very good speakers, but looking at your list running taps are loud!
I was surprised by that, too!
That is really interesting information! It makes more sense now when DH and Mr. 9 both seem incapable of hearing me over TV/Dishwasher/Washing Machine etc. And it makes more sense that running taps (e.g. showers) bother me so much at night…they are loud! I’ll have to download a sound metering app, I think my little guy would love to walk around measuring decibels.
Yeah, I didn’t want to continue shouting from room to room, or getting louder and louder to compete with the background noise.
This is so interesting… I really should start wearing ear plugs to rock concerts too.
I used to feel self-conscious but now so many people wear them. I might not bother if I only went to a show once a year, but it’s more like once a month!
“Resting my ears”. I think this might be a dangerous excuse for me to not listen! “Sorry, resting my ears.”
Yeah, it’s like when people have hearing aids and they get tired of listening to people so they shut them off!
This is why I can never hear my husband when he’s in the shower! I can’t believe just water is so loud. We haven’t been to a concert in a while, but I definitely like the earplug idea. I despise that ringing!
Me too, I am done with that!
Your post made me laugh! My boys are constantly asking me things from the other room when I’ve got the fan going, the pot boiling etc. They, like your family, get annoyed when I tell them they have to come and speak to me. Strangely though, when I call to them, I often get no answer unless I go right to them…..
Ha ha – it only works one way, right?
Definitely!
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