Audiology
Hearing
Types of Noise-Related Hearing Loss
Noise can affect your hearing in numerous ways and may lead to problems such as:
- Acoustic trauma—This occurs when a sudden,
extremely loud sound (such as an explosion, a gunshot, or even
a firecracker) damages any of the structures in the ear and
produces immediate, severe, and permanent hearing loss. This
type of injury often requires swift medical attention.
- Temporary threshold shift—This happens
when loud sounds (for example, from a rock concert or a power
tool) cause a temporary ringing and hearing loss. Sounds may
also seem muffled. These effects usually lasts only a few hours,
but they may sometimes last several days or weeks. Repeated
exposure to sounds that cause temporary threshold shifts can
gradually lead to permanent threshold shifts, or noise-induced
hearing loss.
- Noise-induced hearing loss—This is the result of repeated, frequent exposure to moderately loud sounds over a long period of time (measured in years). Though permanent, this kind of hearing loss is almost entirely preventable. Continual exposure to temporary thresholds shifts can result in noise-induced hearing loss.