Subway Noise Is Slowly Making You Deaf

Smithtr

Smithtr

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When it's not holding straphangers hostage for several hours on a Friday, the subway is also responsible for gradually making us deaf!
Working with am New York, an audiologist used a sound measuring device to determine that trains arriving and leaving various city stations produce noise that ranges from 92 to 102 decibels, which can directly contribute to hearing loss if experienced at sustained intervals. For comparison, a battery-powered pencil sharpener is roughly 71 decibels, a chain saw is around 110 decibels and a 12 gauge shotgun blast is 165 decibels, according to the CDC.
Ear plugs would decrease the problem dramatically, but unfortunately, most passengers would rather just cease hearing at all than risk looking subtly unfashionable.
The MTA is aware of this problem, and has thus been trying to quiet the 109-year-old system for the past 35 years by "lubricating tracks on sharp curves, using quieter train wheels, and installing composite brake shoes on all subway cars to stop wheels from screeching," spokesman Kevin Ortiz told the paper.
But even those improvements aren't enough to preserve the hearing of MTA workers, many of whom retire "legally deaf," said Tom Carrano, director of subway safety at the Transport Workers Union Local 100.
This, of course, isn't new. Then again, once passengers can finally talk on their cell phones for the duration of their trip, deafness might be a welcome intervention.
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Subway Noise Is Slowly Making You Deaf: Gothamist
 
I used to live in the metropolitan DC area and took the metro all the time as a kid, I never considered how that long exposure early on might have damaged my hearing on top of all the loud noises I have been exposed to for prolonged periods of time. Interesting.
 
that's why people wear ear plugs in subway
 
Saavik said:
I've never seen anyone wear earplugs around the metro before, not even the people working there.
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come to NYC and you'll see plenty. many subway workers wear earplugs. and people too but with iphone earplugs :lol:
 
Hmm, I suppose it doesn't surprise me seeing pigs squealing can make you deaf... :P Fortunately being born this way, I don't really have much to lose. :D
 
Jiro said:
come to NYC and you'll see plenty. many subway workers wear earplugs. and people too but with iphone earplugs :lol:
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I'll come up there if you're offering to pay for the whole trip. But in DC, I have never seen the workers wearing earplugs, except for the people outside the metro station wearing the over the ear hearing protection. I'm sure some do, but I never seen them.
 
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