A licensed audiologist on the basics of hearing protection…
We probably don’t need to explain that race cars are loud. While the volume and intensity may vary, most racecars – even Touring and Spec Miata class cars – are loud enough to hurt your ears. And you may not even know it’s happening.
“Hearing loss is painless, happens slowly over a long period of time, and becomes a permanent type of damage to the sensory cells within the inner workings of your ear,” says L. Dawn Flinn, a licensed and certified audiologist and principal of earEVERYTHING, Inc., a company that specializes in hearing protection. “It is also 100 percent preventable if we educate ourselves on the available products designed to protect us. Hearing loss does not have to be an inevitable affliction for every motorsport fan or employee. Be that as it may, you only get one chance to save your sense of hearing.”
It goes beyond long-term hearing loss. You may not realize the effects of consistent exposure to loud noises for years, and then it’s too late. But the short-term effects can be immediate, even if you don’t realize that they’re happening, or the cause.
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