85dB is the general point that everyone basically considers you can be around safely for a work day. It's also the point or close to it that most movies and audio is calibrated to.
If you guys are pondering 120dB ranges and thinking you are 'safe', you probably are not. I believe most concerts, at least the outdoor ones that could disturb neighbors and such have a 110dB limit and that's very close in, not way off from the stage somewhere.
Also when you read about safe dB levels they are almost always talking about noise meaning it's a continuous broadband. I'm pretty sure percussive sounds put a whole new spin on things and not in a good way.
As to where to measure. If you want to know what it does for the shooter you measure at the shooters ear. If you wanted to measure something else you put it there but comparisons should be the same. You don;t measure one at the ear and one six feet off to the side.
If one guy measures at 120dB at 1 meter and the next guy measures at 2 meters he will get 114dB. So everyone taking measurements anywhere they want is pretty much useless.
Any prolonged exposure over maybe 83dBA is probably going to result in hearing damage.
85dB is the general point that everyone basically considers you can be around safely for a work day. It's also the point or close to it that most movies and audio is calibrated to.
If you guys are pondering 120dB ranges and thinking you are 'safe', you probably are not. I believe most concerts, at least the outdoor ones that could disturb neighbors and such have a 110dB limit and that's very close in, not way off from the stage somewhere.
Also when you read about safe dB levels they are almost always talking about noise meaning it's a continuous broadband. I'm pretty sure percussive sounds put a whole new spin on things and not in a good way.
As to where to measure. If you want to know what it does for the shooter you measure at the shooters ear. If you wanted to measure something else you put it there but comparisons should be the same. You don;t measure one at the ear and one six feet off to the side.
If one guy measures at 120dB at 1 meter and the next guy measures at 2 meters he will get 114dB. So everyone taking measurements anywhere they want is pretty much useless.
Any prolonged exposure over maybe 83dBA is probably going to result in hearing damage.
Impulse noise is allowed a higher dB than constant noise.
This thread is kind of funny. My mom and I were just talking about my dads hearing the other day. She thinks he mostly ignores her. I assured her that that is the case sometimes. However, my dad was in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive. He shot and been shot at with just about every small arm of that era (M16, M60, M2, quad 50's, AK47, PK, RPG, mortars, hand grenades).
I told her they didn't wear hearing protection and that damaged his hearing. Plus all he's ever done is worked in loud factories and power plants after that. I don't think she bought it.
NYH1.
I was a Tanker for 21 years, I often verified boresights on those cannons while others 50 or so feet away from me fired. I also hit a pretty good sized mine with a mine plow in Desert Storm, fired a lot of Fifty from my M2 etc.
The Military has always been way behind the civilians on hearing protection, it's a shame,they could do a lot better. Sometimes though it's just part of the job.
I now double up on my hearing protection.
I've often wondered what the effects of the shock wave of those rounds would have?
Maximum Recommended Noise Dose Exposure Levels
Noise Level (dBA) Maximum Exposure Time per 24 Hours
85 8 hours
88 4 hours
91 2 hours
94 1 hour
97 30 minutes
100 15 minutes
103 7.5 minutes
106 3.7 minutes
109 112 seconds
112 56 seconds
115 28 seconds
118 14 seconds
121 7 seconds
124 3 seconds
127 1 second
130–140 less than 1 second
140 NO EXPOSURE
From the site:
“Each line by itself represents 100% of the allowable noise dose per 24-hour day. In other words, if you've already experienced 15 minutes at 100 dBA, you're "done for the day," and the remainder of your 24-hour period should have NO exposure above 85 dBA, and preferably should be below 70 dBA. ”
dB safe levels have more to it than just a peak dB. There is a duration of time and cycle per second. So a single pulse of 109 might be the equivalent to 90 constant. I have a good friend that has a brother that is an Otolaryngologist. I will see if he can give some insight on this.
So the friends brother basically said if you think you should be using hearing protection, you are most likely already exceeding the need for it. Stated that gun shots which are transient noise would have each shot count as one minute of the TWA of an 8hr day.
He also stated noise standards limits are influenced by industry. The true numbers he would like used are lower than the OSHA guidelines.
He didn’t seem to want to go into a lot of detail as I assume he didn’t want his advice misconstrued or being followed without him being the one giving it directly to a client.
Impulse noise is allowed a higher dB than constant noise.
Is that for the sake of measurement or for the sake of determining hearing damage. IOW, if you were testing the efficiency of a microphone vs the impact on human ears.
He also stated noise standards limits are influenced by industry. The true numbers he would like used are lower than the OSHA guidelines.
OSHA is the 5dBA rule NIOSH is 3dB
Time to reach 100% noise dose
------- NIOSH REL OSHA PEL
8 hours 85 dBA 90 dBA
4 hours 88 dBA 95 dBA
2 hours 91 dBA 100 dBA
1 hour 94 dBA 105 dBA
30 min 97 dBA 110 dBA
15 min 100 dBA 115 dBA
I would say the firearms situation would most closely relate to the Construction Industry in these charts for civilians. The .Mil would likely be considerably worse. https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/ohl/overall.html
Is that for the sake of measurement or for the sake of determining hearing damage. IOW, if you were testing the efficiency of a microphone vs the impact on human ears.
Ok, I think I was reading your "allowed" incorrectly. So impulses are more dangerous, which is what I thought but wasn't sure how that worked.
Where are you getting impulses are more dangerous? I don’t see anything that supports that. Are you suggesting a jet engine at 130db is less damaging to your hearing than a gunshot at 130db?
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Originally Posted by tb-av
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