Are Low Frequency Sounds More Safe for Hearing?

In a word, no.

By Rohima Badri, Ph.D.

Low frequency noises when presented at high intensity and longer duration can become as damaging as the high frequency noises.

High frequency (high pitched) sounds are easier for our ears to detect, which is why they often seem louder than low frequency sounds. However, low pitched noises can still cause hearing damage, even if it doesn’t seem as intense.

In other words, just because we perceive low frequency sounds less easily doesn’t mean they still can’t damage our hearing over time and/or at a high intensity.

Also, it is important to note that there is a dearth of awareness/research studies when compared with research investigating high frequency noise-induced hearing loss. Of the existing studies, the majority (both in animals and humans) show the damaging effects of low frequency noise on our hearing.

Most interestingly, and often less discussed, is how prolonged exposure of low frequency noise damages both high and low frequency regions of the inner ear.

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In the paper “Degeneration in the Cochlea After Noise Damage: Primary Versus Secondary Events,” published in the American Journal of Otology in August 2020, scientists using the chinchilla model showed that low frequency noise not only damaged a broad region of the cochlea that responds to low frequency sounds— but they also found that continued exposure to low frequency noise damaged the high frequency region in the cochlea.

The authors from the Washington University School of Medicine wrote that cochlear damage from low frequency sounds became “indistinguishable” from that resulting from exposure to high frequency noise.

That is probably why researchers investigating “The Hearing of Symphony Orchestra Musicians” at an interval of six years saw a “30 dB [decibel] left ear threshold increase for double bass players in the 4000-8000 [hertz] frequency range.”

This means double bass players had worse hearing in their left ear, by about 30 decibels, in the range that includes high-pitched sounds. Also, bass players can show threshold shifts at higher frequencies. (As the original 1983 Scandinavian Audiology paper is not available in full online, the quoted excerpt is from a 2008 McGill Journal of Medicine paper, “Loud Music Listening”).

Low frequency noise exposure not only causes damage to our hearing but also to other factors beyond hearing loss, such as “sleep disorders, discomfort, sensitivity to and irritability from noise, annoyance, hearing loss, and cardiovascular diseases,” Portuguese researchers noted. Their paper, “Low Frequency Noise and Its Main Effects on Human Health—A Review of the Literature Between 2016 and 2019, was published in the journal Applied Sciences in July 2020.

Dearth of Research on Low Frequencies

The awareness and research focus that high frequency noise receives is sadly missing for low frequency noise. Many people with low frequency hearing loss due to noise exposure are not diagnosed due to a lack of sensitivity in detecting low frequency noise-induced hearing loss, as reported in the 2024 Trends in Hearing paper, “Sensitivity of Methods for Diagnosing Noise-Induced Hearing Loss in Cases of Exposures Including Intense Low Frequency Noise.”

A 2022 study using the chinchilla model, “Extensive Hearing Loss Induced By Low Frequency Noise Exposure,” that was published in Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology examined whether low pitch traffic noise damages hearing more than we thought, affecting not just low frequency hearing but also high frequency hearing. 

Chinchillas (whose auditory system is remarkably similar to the human auditory system) were exposed to low frequency traffic noise at 90 dB for six hours. The auditory brainstem response threshold was used to evaluate hearing function before and after noise exposure. 

The low frequency noise exposure resulted in significant damage to the inner ear, specifically to outer hair cells in both low and high frequency regions. The scientists (from the U.S., Canada, and China) concluded that low frequency noise can lead to significant hearing loss over an extensive range from low to high frequencies.

A 2024 review paper in the Journal of Environmental Management, “Advancing Noise Management in Aviation: Strategic Approaches for Preventing Noise-Induced Hearing Loss,” noted that the type of noise exposure in aviation is typically low to mid frequencies and that a higher prevalence of hearing loss was found among aviation crews compared with the general population. 

That review study also mentions another review from 2017 that links low frequency noise concentrated between 100-1000 hertz (Hz) to long-term hearing damage after prolonged exposure. 

And a review study in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health from 2021, “Loud Music and Leisure Noise Is a Common Cause of Chronic Hearing Loss, Tinnitus, and Hyperacusis,” mentions the effect of noise inside motorcycle helmets on the motorcyclists. The sound level was measured at 95 to 103 dB at 250 and 500 Hz, and motorcyclists showed hearing loss at 500 and 1000 Hz.

Better Safe Than Sorry

So there are no safe loud sounds. Any sound, high frequency or low frequency, when it exceeds the established limits, can become damaging very quickly and/or over time.

Our information is based on evidence-based research studies and scholarly articles that support the adverse effects of both intense and chronic high and low frequency noises on our hearing. 

As hearing damage from both high and low frequencies is permanent but preventable, we advise our community to prioritize a “better safe than sorry” approach by practicing safe listening: lower the volume, use ear protection, take quiet breaks, and limit exposure to loud sounds of any frequency.

Based in New Jersey, Rohima Badri, Ph.D., is an adviser for Hearing Health Foundation’s Keep Listening prevention campaign. She has written about instilling healthy hearing habits at home, raising awareness about noise-induced hearing loss, and taking steps to create a culture shift in young people around protecting hearing.

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