Loud sounds that are not painful can cause hearing damage

Loud sound does not have to be physically painful to cause hearing damage.

• If you are in a situation where you need to raise your voice to be understood, then the noise is probably too loud.
• If you need to shout at a person only one metre away to be heard, then damaging noise is occurring in your immediate environment.
• If you are listening to your personal stereo player through headphones and you can’t hear traffic sounds or people talking nearby, then your headphone volume levels are damaging your ears.