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noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), something they say had yet to be studied to this extent. If you're a married white male driving a convertible, listen up while you still can.
analyzed the audiometric testing data from 5,290 people ages 20 to 69, finds that more than 13 percent suffer from some level of NIHL, which means some 24 million Americans might as well. The strongest association they found is gender, with men being 25 times as likely as women to develop NIHL.
drivers who ride in convertibles with the top down on a regular basis. Researchers say that long or repeated exposure to noise above 85 decibels can result in permanent hearing loss; in the convertibles they studied going 50, 60, and 70 miles per hour, drivers were consistently exposed to sounds between 88 and 90 decibels--due to noise associated with road surfaces, traffic congestion, wind, etc.
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association says that "faint" sounds (library, whispering) are 30 decibels; "very loud" sounds (vacuum cleaner, busy traffic) are 60 to 80; "extremely loud" sounds (chain saw, drum rolls) are 90 to 110; and "painful" sounds (jet plan takeoff, rock music peak) are 120 to 150. Riding in a convertible, then, results in exposure to "very" and "extremely" loud sounds.
about a 20 percent decrease in risk of developing hearing loss. The authors say this is the largest study to delve prospectively into the relationship between diet and hearing loss.
Health Professionals Follow-up Study cohort, active between 1986 to 2004 and involving more than 50,000 male health professionals who filled out detailed health and diet questionnaires every other year.
motorcycle drivers of any ethnicity, relationship status, and dietary tendency are probably at greater risk of hearing loss than those who do not ride motorcycles. In the meantime, if you start seeing white men with wedding rings munching on greens in their convertibles, you'll know why.
Elizabeth Armstrong Moore is a freelance journalist based in Portland, Ore. She has contributed to Wired magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, and public radio. Her semi-obscure hobbies include unicycling, slacklining, hula-hooping, scuba diving, billiards, Sudoku, Magic the Gathering, and classical piano. She is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET.
Perry_Clease October 6, 2009 6:21 PM PDT Interesting study. Did they also look into drivers who listen to music that is so loud that it rattles windows in other cars?
William Crow October 6, 2009 6:50 PM PDT Maybe married guys that ride in convertibles do it on purpose to go deaf to the point they cannot hear their wives nagging.
Perry_Clease October 6, 2009 7:07 PM PDT Selective hearing loss. Seriously there be something to the hearing loss from riding in a convertible. Driving in a hardtop with the window can probably have an effect in hearing loss.
RobertFHarwood October 6, 2009 8:35 PM PDT I wonder about the noise we in the industry were exposed to in the mainframe and server rooms? We didn't notice how loud it was until things were shutdown. It was loud in the low frequency range, almost and I am sure, below hearing level, but still loud. I remember some mainframe rooms that my whole body hummed with the sound. Since I have been in the profession since 1975 I am not suprised how bad my hearing is.
mjd420nova October 6, 2009 8:43 PM PDT Falling into this rather confining category seems a bit remote. I always drive with the drivers window down out of habit and need for fresh air. I work in a very noisy environment that requires 30DB suppression ear plugs so find many normal noises too loud, especially the clowns with the music so loud it can be heard blocks away.
ikramerica--2008 October 7, 2009 12:37 AM PDT Window down is nearly as bad. You will experience hearing loss in your left ear if you keep it up. You can crack three windows to get circulation and less noise. Habits are hard to break, but most habits are bad ones...
You can crack three windows to get circulation and less noise. " Can they bring back wing windows so we can aim fresh air at our faces? "You will experience hearing loss in your left ear if you keep it up." I am a middle-aged white guy, approaching old fart, let us not bring up "keep it up." I miss that car, hot or cold outside I would have the top down while driving unless it was raining or snowing. Sold it when I went to Vietnam where I further damaged my hearing from gun fire and diesel sounds. The damage from loud sounds add up over the years and I could probably benefit from hearing aids now.
Gabey8 October 7, 2009 1:14 AM PDT They need to test the hearing of the people I've encountered on the subway who are playing their MP3s so loudly, I can hear the music leaking from their earphones from ten feet away... I can only imagine what they, and the people whose blaring car stereos register on the Richter scale, are doing to their ears.
TexasTWylite October 7, 2009 7:23 AM PDT Married white men driving in convertibles are also at higher risk of suffering from ADRS: Automotive Dad-Rock Syndrome, characterized by blasting Journey or Huey Lewis And The News at full volume from the convertible stereo for everyone else around to suffer.
BLSCPTS October 7, 2009 8:50 AM PDT In competition with the cars that go BOOM? My stereo is cranked pretty good on my Harley when I ride. The fairing knocks a lot of the wind off so I don't get much wind noise. But then I'd rather hear Journey or Huey Lewis as opposed to some of the 'music' that comes out of some of those cars. Heck most Rap I hear is louder than my stereo and my bike combined.
Microsoft introduces 'Starter' version of Office October 8, 2009 9:20 AM PDT (83 recent comments) The posting of advertisements, profanity, or personal attacks is prohibited.
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