In this NewsChannel9 TV interview, Sierra Waggoner and Dr. Sreek Cherukuri discuss the importance of hearing protection at summer music festivals. Dr. Cherukuri explains that noise levels can reach up to 120 decibels, which can cause permanent hearing loss in less than two minutes. He advises using earplugs, which are readily available and can protect hearing by attenuating sound. He mentions that children are particularly vulnerable to hearing damage due to their smaller ear canals and sharper hearing.
Dr. Cherukuri suggests that if one’s ears hurt or ring during a concert, they should move away from the noise or leave. If these symptoms persist the next day, seeing an ear, nose, and throat doctor or audiologist is recommended. He also highlights signs of hearing loss, such as needing to repeat conversations or elderly relatives having the TV volume excessively high.
For elderly individuals who might not use hearing aids, Dr. Cherukuri introduces The ClearCast PAL, a conversation-amplifying earphone, available at clearcasthearing.com. The interview concludes with a reminder to take hearing protection seriously during loud events.
Transcript:
Sierra Waggoner: Welcome back to the daily refresh summer music festivals. There’s so much fun and they’re in full swing. So we must emphasize the significance of hearing protection during those festivals and concerts. That noise levels, the noise levels can reach up to 120 decibels, well above a safe threshold. Here to tell us more.
It’s Dr. Sreek Cherukuri. Hello, doctor. How are you?
Dr Sreek Cherukuri: Good morning. Thanks for having me. Thank
Sierra Waggoner: you so much for being here. All right. What are the noise levels at outdoor concerts?
Dr Sreek Cherukuri: So depending on how close you are to the speakers, they can get very, very loud up to 110, 115 decibels. Wow. Louder indoors because there’s a lot of reverberation and, and re containment of the sound.
That was just at an outdoor concert and it got to 113 decibels.
Sierra Waggoner: Oh my goodness. Doctor, how did you measure that at the concert?
Dr Sreek Cherukuri: So you can get an app on your phone. There’s a lot of free apps that let you do that. But the, the take home point is at those levels, we don’t think about noise causing gamut, but under two minutes, permanent noise related hearing loss is close to 110, 150 decibels noise.
Sierra Waggoner: Wow. Okay. So we’re going to these concerts. We’re going to these festivals. What precautions can we take to protect our hearing during these times?
Dr Sreek Cherukuri: Well, as mentioned, you can download an app if you really want to be scientific about it. But the easiest thing to do is earplugs. These are very simple, available everywhere.
And if you’re more of an audiophile, you can get specific earplugs that will help you hear all the frequencies equally, but they attenuate the sound and keep it at a protected level. I’ve lost some hearing in my youth when I was exposed to very loud noise, and so I’m very careful about that. Number two is if you feel like your ears are hurting or you hear ringing in your ears, you really listen to your body, leave the situation or go farther away.
If the next day you’re still feeling muffled or hearing ringing, you should see an ear, nose and throat doctor or an audiologist right away.
Sierra Waggoner: Okay. And are there a specific group of people that are more vulnerable to hearing loss from loud noises?
Dr Sreek Cherukuri: So the kids, the younger the kids are smaller ear canals, they actually increase the pressure levels in the ear and they have much sharper hearing.
So they’re more susceptible to the kids to many times, I would be extra cautious with either earplugs.
Sierra Waggoner: Yeah. And what are some of the signs of hearing loss that you can notice for yourself or for your relatives?
Dr Sreek Cherukuri: Yeah. So, uh, the most typical one is you talk to somebody and they don’t hear you or they ask you to repeat.
Or if it’s an elderly relative, they might answer the wrong question. We certainly see that a lot. Um, and so if the TV, you know, again, we’ll take this opportunity to talk about the family members. Summertime is a, uh, time where there are a lot of extended family gatherings. If the TV is too loud, that’s a sign that an elderly family member may have some trouble hearing.
But the main thing is you have to repeat. You have to raise your voice. A lot of times, uh, people, I mean, if they’re not facing you, they can’t lip read and they don’t really hear what you’re saying.
Sierra Waggoner: Yeah. Well, Doctor, we’re just out of time, but this is a lot of really good information. If we want to find out more, where should we go?
Dr Sreek Cherukuri: So, I just want to say one last thing. There’s a new device called ClearCast. It’s, we’re recommending this for our elderly family members that don’t want to wear hearing aids or can’t use hearing aids. Conversation Amplifying Earphone Wearable. You can find more information at clearcasthearing.com.
Sierra Waggoner: All right, doctor.
Thank you so much for being here. We really appreciate you.
Dr Sreek Cherukuri: Have a great day.
Sierra Waggoner: You too.