Apple Hearing Study Update

By Yishane Lee

When I first saw that Apple Watch gave warnings about decibel levels, especially in text accompanying its Health app, I admittedly had a cynical reaction, “This is a classic CYA move” (google it if needed). But, since half of my family now wears the Watch regularly, I have been able to witness it warning them of dangerous sound levels. And it is handy to have this instantaneous information.

“My Watch says the music is 95 and even 102 decibels,” my teenage daughter texts me, from a school dance party. (I am regularly the parent who tells the DJ to please turn it down. He usually can’t hear me, but he does.)

So, I then text a fellow parent whom I know is chaperoning the party to maybe ask the DJ to turn it down? Even lowering it 3 decibels will cut the sound intensity by half (in the same day that raising the volume by 3 dB will double it). 

I get the response: “It’s fine, they are dancing, they’re having fun!”

Which is, sadly, all too common a reaction: What’s wrong, it’s fun, don’t be a party pooper! Still, does fun have to be quite so loud?

My daughter and her friends, and groups of other kids, it turns out, end up holing up in the bathrooms so they can talk among themselves without having to shout over the dance music.

So the Watch is definitely helpful and efficient for confirming what we all know: If it sounds too loud, it IS too loud, as Daniel Fink, M.D., of Quiet Communities likes to say. And with the Watch, there’s no need to take the extra step to open up your NIOSH sound level meter app (which I use all the time, since I am Watch-less!).

Crowdsourced Data

A few years ago Apple joined with the University of Michigan to study noise levels as recorded by users of the Watch—bravo, crowdsourcing data at its best!

In their research, the researchers say they followed the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s identification of an average noise exposure level of 70 decibels (dBA) over 24 hours as the level below which there is no risk for hearing loss.

A-weighted decibels, or dBA, is a measure of how the human ear perceives sound. We’ll use dBA and dB interchangeably here just to keep it simple.

They then extrapolated this repeated, daily average exposure to represent a likely annual average exposure.

One in Three Adults at Risk

Visit the study website to make use of this interactive noise exposure map.

The researchers’ latest findings, released for International Noise Awareness Day April 26, include the perhaps not unsurprising statistic that an estimated one in three adult Americans are exposed to excessive noise levels. This is roughly 77 million adults, the study says. 

The noise can come from the workplace, traffic, and airplanes, but also leisure activities such as concerts, bars, and restaurants. Notably, and something we have been banging on about (with help from Dan), while workplace noise exposures are regulated with federal guidelines, recreational exposures are not—that is, our 24/7 lifestyles—and, perhaps more significantly, the adult workplace limit of 85 dB is routinely cited as a safe level for children. (An October 2022 Hearing Journal paper unpacks the complexity of developing and applying noise exposure guidelines.)

The numbers were drawn from roughly 130,000 volunteers from the Apple Hearing Study who contributed Apple Watch data between November 2019 to December 2022. 

Looking at Averages

The highest percentage of participants exposed to noise levels that are often above 70 dBA live in Puerto Rico (44 percent). The lowest percentage live in Washington, D.C. (20 percent). The researchers did some population weighting and estimates to come up with the nifty interactive map above.

The researchers emphasize this is an average exposure. You can have periods of exposure over 70 dBA but have a safe annual average, “as long as you spend sufficient time in quiet environments so that your annual average exposure is 70 dBA or less,” the report says. 

And we know that hearing and overall health can be damaged by excessive noise exposure. Besides the risk of hearing loss, tinnitus, and hyperacusis, loud sounds can “cause annoyance, impact your heart, disturb your sleep, and impact mental health,” the report says. “Longer exposures, and exposures at higher levels, increase the risk of these impacts.”

The advice the study gives is the same as we’ve been shouting (quietly) through our Keep Listening campaign: Take quiet breaks to rest your ears, and carry and use hearing protection when you need it. (The CDC recently reported that participants at loud recreational events would be receptive to safe listening messaging and tactics.)

We’d also add to continue to advocate for quieter shared public spaces, even the dance floor. Lowering it just 3 dB would help a lot!

Yishane Lee heads marketing and communications at HHF. Learn more about our Keep Listening prevention campaign, with links to our latest short videos.

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