The recommendation for white-noise machines make me uncomfortable. These can be dangerous.
Except for acute shock damage like from explosions, which is a different mechanism, noise-induced stress is cumulative and will eventually lead to hearing loss. The way I’ve heard it explained is that the hairs in your cochlea build up waste with use and clean it up gradually over time. Too much will poison them and humans are genetically incapable of regeneration, leading to pitch gaps.
They can’t keep up with noise over about 70 decibels and require quiet periods to recover from anything louder. Up to 85 decibels is supposed to be OK for up to about 8 hours [EDIT: other sources say 2?], but you have to stop exposure at that time to recover. Louder noises become dangerous after even shorter exposures. A white-noise machine near your head for 8 hours can prevent that recovery from happening while you sleep. And worse, if it’s over 70 decibels, it can contribute to hearing loss by itself.
The CDC page and the one on noise machine seem to me to make claims about the maximum noise being the problem.
Your above post seems to additionally make the claim that there’s a recovery process that only happens when there’s very little sounds which seems to me like an interesting separate claim from loud noise causes hearing damage.
The Auditory fatigue article mentions that short-term fatigue recovers in about two minutes. Long-term fatigue can take anywhere from minutes to days (i.e. overnight), depending on severity, with most recovery happening in the first 15 minutes.
It also mentions that exercise, heat exposure, and certain chemicals increase the risk of permanent damage. A person with a heavier workload requires more time to recover. These make sense in terms of the metabolic waste model.
Also,
There is currently no way to estimate the amount of time needed to recover from auditory fatigue because it is not usually detectable until after the injury has already occurred.
So perhaps the answer isn’t known.
I don’t know exactly how little sound is required for recovery. Perhaps anything under 70 decibels during physical rest is sufficient for the cells to eventually catch up?
There are a lot of scientific papers cited in that article. Maybe some of them can go into more detail on this point.
A practical alternative to white noise machines are nature sounds. Noise patterns like rain did exist in the natural enviroment and are likely more healthy then white noise. You likely still shouldn’t make them too loud.
The recommendation for white-noise machines make me uncomfortable. These can be dangerous.
Except for acute shock damage like from explosions, which is a different mechanism, noise-induced stress is cumulative and will eventually lead to hearing loss. The way I’ve heard it explained is that the hairs in your cochlea build up waste with use and clean it up gradually over time. Too much will poison them and humans are genetically incapable of regeneration, leading to pitch gaps.
They can’t keep up with noise over about 70 decibels and require quiet periods to recover from anything louder. Up to 85 decibels is supposed to be OK for up to about 8 hours [EDIT: other sources say 2?], but you have to stop exposure at that time to recover. Louder noises become dangerous after even shorter exposures. A white-noise machine near your head for 8 hours can prevent that recovery from happening while you sleep. And worse, if it’s over 70 decibels, it can contribute to hearing loss by itself.
Huh, interesting, I haven’t heard of this. Do you have a source handy?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditory_fatigue#Excessive_vibrations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noise-induced_hearing_loss#Hair_cell_damage_or_death
These articles have many citations. Both mention reactive oxygen species potentially causing permanent damage.
One article calling out noise machines in particluar: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/kids-health/white-noise-machines-could-hurt-babies-hearing-study-suggests-n41416
CDC page on the topic: https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/hearing_loss/what_noises_cause_hearing_loss.html#:~:text=Sound is measured in decibels,immediate harm to your ears.
The CDC page and the one on noise machine seem to me to make claims about the maximum noise being the problem.
Your above post seems to additionally make the claim that there’s a recovery process that only happens when there’s very little sounds which seems to me like an interesting separate claim from loud noise causes hearing damage.
The Auditory fatigue article mentions that short-term fatigue recovers in about two minutes. Long-term fatigue can take anywhere from minutes to days (i.e. overnight), depending on severity, with most recovery happening in the first 15 minutes.
It also mentions that exercise, heat exposure, and certain chemicals increase the risk of permanent damage. A person with a heavier workload requires more time to recover. These make sense in terms of the metabolic waste model.
Also,
So perhaps the answer isn’t known.
I don’t know exactly how little sound is required for recovery. Perhaps anything under 70 decibels during physical rest is sufficient for the cells to eventually catch up?
There are a lot of scientific papers cited in that article. Maybe some of them can go into more detail on this point.
A practical alternative to white noise machines are nature sounds. Noise patterns like rain did exist in the natural enviroment and are likely more healthy then white noise. You likely still shouldn’t make them too loud.