Household Items That Could Damage Your Hearing

For most people, home is a calm and peaceful place. It’s the spot you feel safest, and you can’t wait to get home after a long day to relax and have a few moments of quiet. However, your home might not be as safe, or as quiet, as you may think. In fact, several of your everyday household items could damage your hearing. Let’s take a look at the loudest items in your home.

Hairdryer

Do you regularly use a hairdryer? If you blow-dry your hair every day, you could be risking your hearing health! Hairdryers are louder than you think, often reaching up to 90 decibels (dB). If you use a hairdryer for a few minutes every day, you’re exposed to over an hour of excessively loud sound every week. If you have a typical hair dryer, and you can’t have a conversation at a normal volume when the hair dryer is on, you should protect your hearing and ask your family to stay out of the bathroom when the blow dryer is on.

The easiest solution is to keep a pair of earplugs in the bathroom and put them in before blow-drying your hair. And next time you need a new hairdryer, you may want to invest in a quieter dryer.

Vacuum Cleaner

We don’t want to give you a reason not to clean your floors, but you should know that vacuum cleaners are another household item that can damage your hearing. Just like hairdryers, vacuum cleaners can sometimes reach 90 dB. Wear earplugs next time you turn on the vacuum or find a quieter vacuum cleaner for your home.

Blender

Do you ever start the day with a homemade smoothie? Your blender could be damaging your hearing. While you might associate the whir of the blender with a delicious drink, that sound could be hurting your ears. Blenders can reach up to 100 dB when they’re on the fastest setting, making it one of the loudest items you have in your home. High-speed blenders can damage your hearing in a hurry, so wear hearing protection before flicking the switch. Thankfully new blenders are quieter, so there’s a good chance your next blender will be easier on the ears.

Television 

If you turn up the volume on your TV to maximum and sit in the same room, you could be exposing your ears to dangerously loud noise. The volume on some TVs can reach up to 95 dB and can damage your hearing. Having a hard time hearing the TV? Turn on subtitles and turn off background noise rather than turning up the volume on the TV.

Lawnmower

It’s not just indoor items that can affect your hearing. Your lawnmower is another noisy item that could be hurting your ears. Lawnmowers and leaf blowers can reach 95 dB, and fill your yard with noise. When it’s time to mow the lawn, put in a pair of earplugs or wear earmuffs, and make sure no one else is in the yard.

Hearing Loss is Gradual

None of these sounds are loud enough to cause immediate hearing loss. Instead, these everyday sounds can start to damage your hearing over time. Most often, noise-induced hearing loss is gradual, and your hearing abilities will change slowly over several months or more. 

The first sign of hearing loss is having a hard time following conversations, especially if you’re somewhere with background noise. You’ll have more difficulty picking out the speech sounds and making sense of the sounds you’re hearing.

Another early sign of hearing loss is missing some of the soft or high-pitched sounds in your environment. Think about the last time you heard the soft beeping of the microwave or heard the sound of a family member in another room. If you’ve been missing out on some of these soft sounds, you probably have hearing loss.

Book a Hearing Test

Call us today to schedule a hearing test and find out more about your hearing health. The hearing test will show you if you have hearing loss, and we’ll recommend a treatment option that will have you hearing clearly in no time. We’ll also help you understand noise-induced hearing loss, and suggest ways that you can protect your hearing and make your home safer for everyone.