Metal Machine Music

This city is making you deaf:

Researchers at Columbia University found subway noise inside the cars and on station platforms regularly exceeds safe limits. Riding the trains for just 30 minutes a day can eventually lead to permanent hearing damage, experts say.

“By itself, riding long enough could definitely put your hearing at risk,” said Dr. Robyn Gershon, a professor at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health and lead author of the study. “Once the damage starts, it passes a threshold and keeps adding and keeps adding, and pushes you over the edge.”

Regular subway noise averages about 95 decibels, but Columbia researchers found it reached 106 decibels at some subway platforms. A diesel truck generally produces 100 decibels of noise and a lawn mower 107 decibels.

Environmental Protection Agency standards recommend keeping exposure to 100 decibels of noise to less than 90 seconds.

The article goes on to note by way of comparison that rock concerts are about 110 decibels.

See also: In The Eternal Words Of Jimi, Cover Your Ears!