What are decibels, and when do they become harmful?

Clio Sinclair
2025-12-09T15:44:21+01:00

The decibel (abbreviated dB) is the unit used to measure the intensity of a sound. The decibel scale is a little odd because the human ear is incredibly sensitive. Your ears can hear everything from your fingertip brushing lightly over your skin to a loud jet engine. In terms of power, the sound of the jet engine is about 1,000,000,000,000 times more powerful than the smallest audible sound.

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From the gentle rustle of leaves to the roar of a fighter jet. Our ears can detect it all. This wide range of frequencies also poses a risk: hearing damage can occur long before sound actually becomes painful. In order to protect your hearing properly, it is helpful to understand how sound is measured and at what point it becomes harmful.

This is how we measure noise levels

You're probably familiar with the term 'decibel' — the unit used to measure sound intensity. But did you also know that our hearing is incredibly sensitive? The range between the softest and loudest sound we can hear is huge. By comparison: a fighter jet is about a trillion times louder than the softest sound we can just barely detect. And a trillion is a lot of zeros!

Within that wide range, sound can quickly become harmful unnoticed. It's not just about how loud a sound is, but also how long you're exposed to it for. Understanding how noise levels work can help you to manage noise more effectively and protect your hearing over time.

Noise levels and decibels (dB)

Decibel | Sound | Example
10 | Almost inaudible | Falling leaves
20 | Audible | Rustling foliage
30 | Very quiet | Whisper
40 | | Living room, quiet classroom
50 | Limited noise | Working refrigerator, passing car
55 | | Coffee machine in operation
60 | Audible | Sound of a voice, sound of a device
70 | Annoying | Loud TV sounds, hoover, several people on the phone
75 | Constant noise | Full restaurant at lunchtime
80 | Disturbing | Alarm clock, truck traffic, doorbell
85 | Loud | Sound of a saw, blender
90 | Very annoying | Truck up close, shouting, clapping, cheering
95 | Sound | Drill, violin
100 | Very loud | Factory machine, compressor, fighter plane at 300 metres altitude
105 | Even louder | Helicopter up close, big drum
110 | Extremely loud | Rock concert, chainsaw
120 | | Maximum volume of a human voice, police siren
130 | | Thunderstorm
140 | Pain threshold | Public warning siren up close
150 | Permanent hearing damage | Fireworks
160 | | Shot with a pistol or rifle
170 | | Emergency missile
180 | | Missile launch platform
203 | | Saturn rocket

How many decibels are harmful?

Hearing damage does not only occur from loud bangs. It's important to know that you are already at risk of hearing damage from 80 decibels. And that level is lower than you might think. This could be a busy road with heavy traffic, a lawnmower or a hoover at full power. Sounds pretty mundane, right? But the longer you are exposed to such noise levels, the greater the risk of damage. Sometimes without realising it. In fact, the pain threshold only kicks in at 120–130 decibels. That's the level of a fighter jet or a hard rock concert up close.

How long can you be exposed to loud noise without harm?

The louder the sound, the quicker the damage will occur. That sounds logical, right? However, many people are unaware of how quickly the risk increases with increased volume. In fact, sound works according to a logarithmic scale. A technical term, but it boils down to this: For every 3-decibel increase, you are twice as likely to sustain hearing damage. The table below shows exactly how fast the safe listening time decreases as the decibels increase and thus the sound gets louder.

Decibel (dB) | Exposure time
80 dB | Damage can occur after 8 hours
83 dB | Damage can occur after 4 hours
86 dB | Damage can occur after 2 hours
89 dB | Damage can occur after 1 hour
92 dB | Damage can occur after 30 minutes
95 dB | Damage can occur after 15 minutes
98 dB | Damage can occur after 7.5 minutes
101 dB | Damage can occur after less than 4 minutes

Prevent hearing damage: protect your ears in time

In a club or at a festival, where the volume can easily reach 103 decibels, your hearing can be damaged after only a short time. As you have read, this can happen very quickly. Therefore, understanding how noise levels work is not only interesting, but also essential for protecting your ears properly.

Having a blast at a Formula 1 race or concert? It's totally fine to go full throttle. But without the proper hearing protection, such an experience can cause lasting damage. Tinnitus and permanent hearing loss are very real possibilities. Once your hearing is damaged, it does not recover.

So: give your ears the attention they deserve. Wear protection where it gets really loud. This will allow you to continue to enjoy the sounds of life.

Find the right hearing protection for you in just a few simple steps and prevent lasting hearing damage.