older women taking pictures at a concert

Summer has finally arrived, and you’re ready for all that fun we’ve been getting excited about: swimming in the pool, going to the beach, and other activities that can damage your ears. You may find yourself in environmental scenarios or subjected to other loud noises this summer that are hidden dangers to your hearing. Any sounds over 80 decibels could result in injury to your ears, while permanent hearing loss can happen in swimming pools or other bodies of water. You have to take preventative measures and be conscious of your surroundings in order to keep your hearing safe this summer. Here are 6 of the summer’s hidden hearing hazards.

Wear ear protection at concerts

The summer season is concert season, but even if you’re in a venue, you still should protect your ears. Concerts can have volumes over 90 decibels, even at outside shows, which is within the danger zone of hearing loss. That’s why it’s definitely a smart idea to wear earplugs regardless of whether you’re seeing a show outdoors or indoors. You can still hear the tunes with earplugs it’s just dampened a little bit. If you’re going to a concert with young children, consider buying them a heavy duty set of earmuffs because kids have more delicate ears than adults.

Fireworks can damage your ears

Honestly, there are a lot of reasons to avoid fireworks in the summer. This is not about the skilled 4th of July displays, we mean the backyard fireworks that lead to many of incidents throughout the summertime. Backyard fireworks achieve decibel levels of over 155 which can injure your ears along with causing hand injuries, loss of vision and backyard fires. This 4th of July, leave the fireworks to the professionals and enjoy the display from a protected and sound distance.

Hearing loss can be caused by lawnmowers

If you care about your yard, mower, edger, and trimer are your best friends. But this muffled feeling in your ears is a signal that your ears have been injured. That’s because the constant noise from your lawn tools have a slow and steady impact on your hearing. You’ve probably noticed landscapers using some form of hearing protection, next time you work on your yard with noisy power equipment, you should take a cue from them and wear earplugs or earmuffs.

Pool and beaches, what you should do to safeguard your hearing

Millions of people suffer from swimmer’s ear every summer, which happens when bacteria-packed water becomes trapped in your ear canal. Swelling and painful earaches are the result when the ear gets infected by the bacteria. These bacteria are generally found in lakes and rivers but sometimes also be found in hot tubs and pools if the water is not correctly managed. No lasting injury should take place if you get your ears assessed by a hearing expert. To be safe, when your swimming in your pool, use specialized swimmers earplugs and keep the chemical balance correct to minimize the chance of getting swimmers ear.

Boats and other water sports

If you love the water, the summer season is beach and boating time for you. But, jet ski and boat engines can be noisy,they can get up to over 100 decibels. Continual subjection to that kind of noise for around 15 minutes can bring about irreversible hearing impairment. In this situation also, using a pair of throw away foam earplugs is a smart strategy.

Car Races can injure your ears

It doesn’t matter what type of auto racing you enjoy, stock cars, midgets, motorcycles, drag racing, Formula 1. If you go to a lot of auto-races this summer, they all present a peril. 120 dB is inside of the danger zone for hearing damage and quite a few races go way above this. As mentioned before, your children should use muffs while you should wear earplugs at least. If you don’t, you might not get to enjoy the sound of those engines as you get older.