Follow these hearing protection tips during the workday.
Many people spend much of their week at work, whether in an office building, at a job site, or in another location. No matter the type of facility, it’s important to consider how your work environment impacts your hearing health. In this guide, we’ll discuss how to protect your hearing at work through a series of simple hearing protection tips:
- Limit exposure to loud noises
- Follow safety guidelines
- Use hearing protection as needed
- Turn down the volume on your personal device
- Manage workday stress levels
- Get your regular checkup
Find out more about each of these hearing protection tips below.
Limit exposure to loud noises
One of the most critical hearing protection tips for the workplace is to limit and avoid exposure to loud noises as much as possible. When avoidance is not possible, take frequent breaks in a quieter area and use hearing protection gadgets (tip #3 on this list) to help limit some of the potential effects of noise-induced hearing loss.
How loud is too loud? Review our guide to safe vs. dangerous decibel levels to know what tools, appliances, and events are within the safe zone – and which aren’t.
Follow safety guidelines
Some work environments, such as construction sites, may already provide safety guidelines to follow that include hearing health protection efforts. If so, be sure to adhere to these recommendations, and ask about any additional steps you can take to protect your hearing and minimize exposure to potentially damaging noises.
Use hearing protection as needed
If you work in a loud environment, protect your hearing with noise-blocking protection gadgets, like headphones, earplugs, earmuffs – or a combination. While you can use these gadgets in a noisy workplace, they can also be useful as you enjoy everyday activities, like listening to music or watching a movie.
Turn down the volume on your personal device
If you prefer listening to music as you go about your daily work tasks, you may be tempted to turn the volume up to drown out background noises or jam out to your favorite tunes! However, turning the volume down and opting for over-the-ear headphones rather than in-ear devices that push sound directly into the ear canal is often safer for your ears. Limiting exposure to shorter periods can also work to protect your hearing.
Manage workday stress levels
This hearing protection tip may surprise you! Some research has linked stress and anxiety to both temporary and permanent tinnitus. Experts believe that high levels of stress can put pressure on your nerves and affect blood flow, body heat, and other factors that can increase the likelihood of tinnitus symptoms. As such, monitoring and working to reduce your stress levels is another way to protect your hearing at work.
Is stress impacting your life? Try one of these seven stress-relieving activities for adults to find relief.
Get your regular hearing checkup
Just like getting a regular physical or dental cleaning, it’s important also to have routine hearing tests. This preventative care appointment can help your audiologist identify potential hearing loss symptoms and provide personalized advice for protecting your hearing at work.
Learn more about the reasons to get an annual hearing test and what to expect at a hearing test on our blog.
Now that you know how to protect your hearing at work, you can arm yourself with these hearing health practices in any workplace environment. For more hearing health and hearing loss prevention tips, continue to our blog.
To learn how a CapTel captioned telephone can help you catch every word over the phone, visit our website or call 800.233.9130 today.
