On Wed, 2015-09-23 at 13:48 +0000, Bryan Holloway wrote:
Depends on the type of "noise" too.
Obviously seek competent medical advice, but my understanding is that this is a myth. The energy of sound is what causes damage. Bach played at 120dB will do just the same damage as a jet engine at 120dB. By reducing the "alarm" factor - by being more predictable, basically - loud sounds like music are often easier to tolerate and are often perceived as less loud, but energy is energy, and energy is damage. The other factor is time - the longer the sound continues at a given level, the more damage it does to the hearing. Here in Australia, 84dB for 8 hours is the highest "dose" that is legally allowed in the workplace without hearing protection. For sounds over about 95dB hearing protection is required even for short exposures. Regards, K. -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Karl Auer (kauer@biplane.com.au) http://www.biplane.com.au/kauer http://twitter.com/kauer389 GPG fingerprint: 3C41 82BE A9E7 99A1 B931 5AE7 7638 0147 2C3C 2AC4 Old fingerprint: EC67 61E2 C2F6 EB55 884B E129 072B 0AF0 72AA 9882