14 Jun Know before you mow!
As springtime rolls around in Nova Scotia, many of us are thinking about the looming lawn care of the season. As you get ready to head out and do some landscaping, and you grab your boots/gloves/hats to garden and mow, be aware that one of the landscaping chores can be harmful to your hearing health. Mowing the lawn is a part of our weekly routine during the spring and summer, but we often forget how loud a lawn mower can be and the potential damage that is accumulating over time.
The average loudness of a lawnmower while in use is 95 dB; any sound louder than 85 dB is potentially hazardous to your hearing health. However, the longer you are exposed to this loud noise, the more dangerous it becomes. So an hour of lawn mowing at 95 dB can do damage, and this damage can accumulate over time. When exposed to loud, prolonged noise, tiny hair cells in the inner are damaged or destroyed, and can’t be repaired. As a consequence, your ability to understand speech sounds may be permanently altered.
So how can you maintain both a beautiful lawn and your hair cells? Wear hearing protection! While non-custom hearing protection is available at many stores in the form of roll-up foam plugs or big over the ear headsets, many people feel that custom hearing protection is most comfortable to wear. Custom noise protection plugs are made specifically for your ears’ particular shape, and can reduce the discomfort and poor fit often associated with standard foam or rubber plugs. They are safer for long term use than foam or rubber plugs since they aren’t placed as deeply in the ear canal, and are gentler on your ears’ sensitive skin.
Call us today to talk about custom noise protection; they are an affordable investment that will combat excessive noise exposure in many areas of our noisy lives!