Fireworks also damage the ears

According to a study by VeiligheidNL among more than two thousand Dutch people between the ages of 20 and 75 last New Year's Eve, 6 percent of adults who set off fireworks or viewed them outdoors suffered some form of hearing damage, according to their own reports. These include a squeak in the ear, deafness, a dull feeling or distortion of sound. Of the adult Dutch people who set off fireworks last New Year's Eve, only 15 percent used hearing protection, compared with only 4 percent of viewing adults. A single loud bang can already break things in your ear, and you usually notice it immediately. But even if you don't feel it right away, you can suffer hearing damage. After all, every person can only handle a certain amount of excessively loud noise.

More than 500,000 people annually with permanent hearing damage

In the Netherlands, more than 500,000 people annually suffer permanent hearing damage from the loud bangs of fireworks. Loud bangs - even from decorative fireworks - can seriously damage your hearing. The tone - squeak or hiss - in your ear means damage to the hair cells that capture and convert the vibrations of sound. These damages are irreparable. If you hear a beep then you have definitely suffered some hearing damage. Even if the tone disappears again, your hearing has still become impaired. Sometimes people hear the beep or hiss permanently(tinnitus). Among police and other emergency services, this risk has only really been recognized this year. After the many cases of fireworks (bombs) being thrown at police resulting in severe hearing loss, hearing impairment or even deafness, this year police have been reimbursed for custom hearing protection by their employers.

What is a safe distance?

The closer to the fireworks, the greater the risk. Even if you're just a spectator, your ears get the brunt of it. This is especially true when it comes to the heavier, illegal fireworks. These are louder than 120 dB. With loud bangs, you have to take a much greater distance and throw the fireworks as far away as possible. So using otoplastics is not an unnecessary luxury.

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