“I’m trying to take better care of my ears these days by using hearing protection and monitoring at lower levels. But sometimes I need to listen to things a little louder. How long can I listen at various levels without damaging my ears?”
The world is not entirely in agreement on the specifics, but in general experts agree that listening to high levels of any type of sound (whether its music, jackhammers, or jet engines) can be dangerous if done even for short periods of time. OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Act, 1970) has published the following data:
| Permissible Exposer to Noise Levels | |
| SPL (A-weighted): | Daily Exposure: |
| 90 dB | 8 Hours |
| 92 | 6 |
| 95 | 4 |
| 97 | 3 |
| 100 | 2 |
| 102 | 1.5 |
| 105 | 1 |
| 110 | 0.5 |
| 115 | 0.25 Hours |
You can use this as a general rule of thumb, but be advised that many audio experts claim these standards are not sufficient. They are designed to help prevent major hearing loss for people who work in loud industrial environments, and aren’t concerned with the types of detailed hearing audio professionals depend upon. Other figures have been published that are more conservative, but none of those have been universally accepted either.