Soundscape Pollution

Almost every day you hear the news shows  talking a lot about some type of pollution, especially about toxic pollution that is harmful to us, that's been found in our environment but you never hear them talking about acoustical or noise pollution.  We live in a noisy world and it is getting noisier all the time. Most of the noise we live in is, at what I consider, toxic levels.  ( Too learn more about noise pollution please click the following link for an "Overview of Noise Pollution" at http://www.healthyhearing.com/report/51541-Overview-of-noise-pollution?utm_source=Healthy+Hearing+Newsletter&utm_campaign=87acc312b6-HH_Update_Oct_16_Issue_A_B&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5239cd6b59-87acc312b6-24269257 )  By this I mean it is loud enough to either damage us physically, by damaging the structures found in the ear, or mentally, by over stimulus of the brain causing higher stress and anxiety levels or by causing us to withdraw from those social or work environments that make us uncomfortable.  This then effects the quality of our lives.   While limiting the noise in our environment would be the best response too the problem it is also the most difficult to accomplish and most likely will not happen in our lifetimes. This leaves two choices available to us.   One choice is focused on preventing or limiting the damage being done by this toxic noise and the other choice focuses on helping to over come the damage done by the toxic noise.  Neither choice is perfect and both involve a fair amount of costs but we are very limited in our options.  The first choice is using Hearing Protection when in louder acoustical environments, defined as noise levels in excess of 85 dBa as referenced by OSHA Standard for hearing protection.  Hearing protection comes in both passive and active protection.  To learn more about hearing protection please visit www.earlink.com or the Earlink blog.  The second choice is to use hearing aids to  help compensate for the damage done by noise pollution.   To learn more about the help available with hearing aids please visit www.hearingresources.com.