The CDC page and the one on noise machine seem to me to make claims about the maximum noise being the problem.
Your above post seems to additionally make the claim that there’s a recovery process that only happens when there’s very little sounds which seems to me like an interesting separate claim from loud noise causes hearing damage.
The Auditory fatigue article mentions that short-term fatigue recovers in about two minutes. Long-term fatigue can take anywhere from minutes to days (i.e. overnight), depending on severity, with most recovery happening in the first 15 minutes.
It also mentions that exercise, heat exposure, and certain chemicals increase the risk of permanent damage. A person with a heavier workload requires more time to recover. These make sense in terms of the metabolic waste model.
Also,
There is currently no way to estimate the amount of time needed to recover from auditory fatigue because it is not usually detectable until after the injury has already occurred.
So perhaps the answer isn’t known.
I don’t know exactly how little sound is required for recovery. Perhaps anything under 70 decibels during physical rest is sufficient for the cells to eventually catch up?
There are a lot of scientific papers cited in that article. Maybe some of them can go into more detail on this point.
Huh, interesting, I haven’t heard of this. Do you have a source handy?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditory_fatigue#Excessive_vibrations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noise-induced_hearing_loss#Hair_cell_damage_or_death
These articles have many citations. Both mention reactive oxygen species potentially causing permanent damage.
One article calling out noise machines in particluar: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/kids-health/white-noise-machines-could-hurt-babies-hearing-study-suggests-n41416
CDC page on the topic: https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/hearing_loss/what_noises_cause_hearing_loss.html#:~:text=Sound is measured in decibels,immediate harm to your ears.
The CDC page and the one on noise machine seem to me to make claims about the maximum noise being the problem.
Your above post seems to additionally make the claim that there’s a recovery process that only happens when there’s very little sounds which seems to me like an interesting separate claim from loud noise causes hearing damage.
The Auditory fatigue article mentions that short-term fatigue recovers in about two minutes. Long-term fatigue can take anywhere from minutes to days (i.e. overnight), depending on severity, with most recovery happening in the first 15 minutes.
It also mentions that exercise, heat exposure, and certain chemicals increase the risk of permanent damage. A person with a heavier workload requires more time to recover. These make sense in terms of the metabolic waste model.
Also,
So perhaps the answer isn’t known.
I don’t know exactly how little sound is required for recovery. Perhaps anything under 70 decibels during physical rest is sufficient for the cells to eventually catch up?
There are a lot of scientific papers cited in that article. Maybe some of them can go into more detail on this point.