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Healthy hearing under assault from the sounds of summer.
Not all noise is music to the ears.

LONG BRANCH, NJ, July 4, 2006 - "It's summertime," goes the old song, "and the livin' is easy."

It's also noisy, according to Brad Buchholtz, an audiologist at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch.

The list of things he reels off that can damage hearing and cause tinnitus is positively deafening:

Parades.

Lawn mowers.

Power boats.

Power tools.

Rock concerts.

And, of course, there are the fireworks, whistling upward and exploding in a shower of color and noise.

But those are not the only summer threats to hearing, according to Buchholtz.

"Many people turn their iPods way up to drown out the sounds of the lawn mower or even the crowd noises at the beach," he says. "All this does is increase the total noise affecting the ears. An increase of just six decibels effectively doubles the volume."

And the effect of all this summertime brouhaha on the hearing can be stark.

"Even a single traumatic event can cause temporary or permanent hearing loss, or temporary or permanent tinnitus," he says. "Prolonged or repeated exposure to loud noises also can damage hearing."

Tinnitus is that perception of sound in the ear where there is no source of the sound, a buzzing or ringing in the ears, and while there are a variety of treatments for the condition, there is no cure.

According to the National Institutes of Health, noise-induced hearing loss can be caused by one-time exposure to a loud sound as well as repeated exposure to sounds at various volume levels over an extended period of time.

Examples of sources of loud noises that cause NIHL are motorcycles, firecrackers and firearms, all emitting sounds from 120 to 150 decibels. Sounds of less than 80 decibels, even after long exposure, are unlikely to cause hearing loss.

Then, of course, there are summer rock 'n' roll concerts. At a recent concert in a large outdoor venue, people came from far and wide to listen to their favorite band, but were woefully unprepared for the wall of sound coming their way.

"I know I should wear earplugs," said Mary Ellen Paradiso of Haledon, Passaic County. "I'm a speech and language teacher and we were taught that in my audiology classes. But I didn't bring any for the concert."

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