Your ears serve a crucial function as one of your five senses. Like many of your others, it can also be extremely fragile. In fact, continued exposure to sounds over 85 decibels can lead to gradual loss of hearing. You can also experience this loss through short but frequent bursts of sounds between 100 and 115 decibels.
Unfortunately, the hearing loss that happens due to this sort of exposure cannot get reversed. For this reason, anyone who works in noisy jobs should understand the risk to their hearing that they take one every day.
The noisiest jobs
Bloom discusses some of the jobs with the highest levels of noise and the highest potential for hearing loss. For 9 million working Americans, 90 percent experience 85 decibels or higher at their place of employment. Some jobs will naturally have a higher level of noise than usual. Some of the noisiest jobs include:
- Construction workers
- Racecar drivers
- The ground control and baggage handlers at airports
Racecar drivers experience up to 135 decibels at racing events. In fact, the noise is often so deafening that even audience members standing too close may suffer hearing damage. In regard to airlines, the cabin crew and pilots of planes do not have to deal with the same noise risk that these employees who work on the ground must endure.
Other jobs that damage hearing
Other jobs with high levels of sound include carpenters, lumberjacks and miners who work with heavy machinery. Nightclub workers and DJs also spend a lot of time surrounded by loud music. Truck drivers, farmers, garbage people and even gardeners also suffer from exposure due to the loud tools of their trade.
