Listen Up! Exposure to Loud Noise
May Cause Tumor & Other Health Risks
By Brian Vaszily
Bob Seger, Jeff Beck, Sting, Eric Clapton,
Peter Frampton and Bob Dylan all have something
in common. Their years of hard rocking have
left a mark on more than just their fans --
after years of exposure to loud noise, they
all now have hearing impairments.
But these hard rockers are not alone. Exposure
to excessive noise is, in fact, the most common
cause of hearing loss and the most common
work-related disease.
Some 10 million Americans already have
permanently damaged hearing from loud
noise. Another 30 million are at risk
right now in their homes, workplace and
recreational settings, according to the
National Institute on Deafness and Other
Communication Disorders (NIDCD).
Surprisingly, though, hearing loss is
only one health risk that arises from
loud noise exposure. There are several
other, serious, risks as well.
According to Eddie Chandler, a stress
management specialist, " ... Sounds
can literally make you sick. Noise pollution
can increase your stress levels and create
severe tension in your daily life. It
can increase your heart rate, raise your
blood pressure and even result in insomnia."
Acoustic Neuroma Tumor
A study to be published in the February
2006 Journal of Epidemiology found that
several years of repeated exposure to
loud noise increases the risk of developing
a non-cancerous tumor that could cause
hearing loss.
People exposed to loud noise were 1.5
times more likely to develop the tumor,
called acoustic neuroma, than people who
weren't exposed to loud noise on a regular
basis.
The slow-growing tumor gradually presses
the cranial nerve that senses sound and
helps with balance. Symptoms, which typically
become noticeable at age 50 or older,
include hearing loss and ringing in the
ears (tinnitus).
Noise Increases Heart Attack Risk
Prolonged exposure to high noise levels
also increases the risk of a heart attack,
according to a study published in the
European Heart Journal.
The study involved 4,000 people who had
been admitted to Berlin hospitals from
1998 to 2001. When it came to environmental
noise (heavy traffic, machines like lawn
mowers, yelling kids and barking dogs),
it was found that:
Men who were exposed for a prolonged
length of time had a 50 percent higher
risk of heart attack than those not exposed.
Women who had been exposed to noise had
a three times higher risk.
"We feel that, if you have a higher
and longer exposure to noise, either environmental
or workplace noise, you are at a higher
risk for a heart attack," said lead
investigator Dr. Stefan Willich.
Risk of High Blood Pressure Goes Up
Another study by University of Michigan
researchers, published in the Archives
of Environmental Health, found that working
in a loud environment raises blood pressure
levels.
They outfitted workers at a Midwest auto-assembly
plant with monitors to take blood pressure
readings and record noise levels throughout
the day.
It was found that while blood pressure
was affected by overall noise exposure,
peaks in noise affected heart rate. Also,
an increase of 10 decibels in average
noise exposure resulted in a systolic
blood pressure increase of 2 millimeters.
To put things in perspective, reducing
systolic blood pressure by 6 millimeters
(for the long-term) has been associated
with a 35 percent to 40 percent reduction
in strokes and a 20 percent to 25 percent
drop in coronary disease.
Where is All This Loud Noise Coming From?
Noise from all over -- work, traffic,
music, TVs, industry, people and more
-- exists like never before. As a result,
much of the population is now experiencing
related hearing loss and other problems.
"There's no question that baby boomers
have been exposed to different sources
of noise than any generation before them,"
says Dr. James F. Battey Jr., director
of NIDCD. "We're certainly seeing
people in their 40s and 50s who notice
their hearing is not as good as it used
to be."
Younger people are also at risk of future
problems, as exposure to noise via earbuds
or headphones attached to MP3 players
and other media devices is common.
Many people may not even realize that
they are listening to music at harmful
levels. An April 2005 study by National
Acoustics Laboratories in Australia, published
in the International Journal of Audiology,
found that 25 percent of people wearing
headphones who were stopped on city streets
were listening at damaging volumes.
"Safe" Noise Levels
A safe average of noise for a 24-hour
day is 70 dB, according to the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency. Any noise that reaches
85 dB or more can damage your hearing,
but even a softer noise can harm your
health if it keeps you up at night (a
45-dB noise is loud enough to keep the
average person awake) or irritates you.
To put things into perspective, here's
a list of some common noise measurements:
Quiet home: 20 dB
Normal talking: 40 dB
Ringing telephone: 60 dB
Air conditioner: 75 dB
Heavy traffic: 90 dB
Subway train, honking horns, jack hammers:
About 100 dB
Typical nightclub: 110 dB
Ears register pain: 120 dB
Loud music, jet take-off: About 120 dB
Noise-Reducing Tips
To keep noise to a minimum in your home,
or to protect your hearing if you must
be in a noisy environment, try these tips
from the previous Sixwise.com article
"Noise Pollution: How Bad is it,
How Bad Could it Get, What are the Effects?":
Wear earplugs in noisy places
Turn down the volume on radios, personal
headsets and TVs
Try muting your TV during the commercials,
or leaving it off all together and reading
a book instead
Sound-treat your home by putting heavy
curtains on windows, rugs on the floors
and sealing all air leaks
Consider adding acoustical tile to your
ceilings and walls
Put on some light music, like the Pure
Relaxation CD, to buffer outside noise
that you can't control
Use sound-blocking headphones to listen
to music/TV without the disturbance of
outside noises, and without disturbing
those around you
Look for quieter home appliances
Take a drive in a rural area to escape
city noise for a day
This article was provided by the world's
#1 most popular and trusted holistic living
e-newsletter -- FREE to you right now
at http://www.SixWise.com! The old way
of thinking: "holistic living"
pertains only to personal health. The
new way of thinking: "holistic living"
means prevention of the negative and adherence
to the positive in all SIX practical areas
of life: relationships, finances, career,
home environment, safety and health. With
the SixWise.com e-newsletter, you will
get holistic wisdom from the world's top
experts in all six of these areas -- completely
FREE with a simple sign-up (and a guaranteed
no-spam policy!) at http://www.SixWise.com.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brian_Vaszily
