99 Hearing Hazards

Pardon me? As you get older, you may notice that your hearing is not as sharp as it once was. Although age does affect hearing, hearing loss is most likely to occur because of exposure to constant sounds in one’s daily life.

The American Speech and Hearing Association has estimated that 40 million Americans are subjected every day to dangerously high levels of noise. Sound is measured in decibels, and studies show that permanent hearing impairment can result from exposure to sound levels of about 85 decibels. Many of particularly loud noises come from machines, but machines are not the only damaging products. A screaming baby at 90 decibels, street traffic at 75 decibels, or an alarm clock at 100 decibels, a vacuum cleaner at 70 decibels, a jackhammer, whose noise level reaches 130 decibels, a powered mower at 105 decibels, or a jet engine at 140 decibels can cause permanent damage to a person’s hearing.

Obviously people such as airplane pilots or construction workers, who are regularly exposed to loud noises should take precautions to protect their hearing. A survey done by the New York League for the Hard of Hearing clearly points up one of these occupational hazards. The study indicates that 50 percent of all rock disc jockeys have suffered hearing damage, and of these 33 percent have become partially deaf.

99 听力危害

请再说一遍？随着年龄增长，你可能会注意到自己的听力不如从前敏锐了。虽然年龄确实会影响听力，但听力损失最可能是因为日常生活中持续接触声音造成的。

美国言语听力协会估计，每天有4000万美国人暴露在危险的高噪音环境中。声音以分贝为单位测量，研究表明，暴露在约85分贝的声音环境中会导致永久性听力损伤。许多特别响亮的噪音来自机器，但机器不是唯一的有害产品。90分贝的尖叫婴儿、75分贝的街道交通、100分贝的闹钟、70分贝的吸尘器、噪音高达130分贝的风镐、105分贝的动力割草机，或是140分贝的喷气发动机，都可能对人的听力造成永久性损伤。

显然，像飞机飞行员或建筑工人这样经常暴露在高噪音环境中的人，应该采取预防措施保护自己的听力。纽约听力障碍联盟做的一项调查清楚地指出了其中一种职业危害。研究表明，所有摇滚电台DJ中有50%遭受了听力损伤，其中33%已经部分失聪。