NBA Summer League in Vegas: Don’t Forget About Your Hearing

If you are excited for the NBA Summer League games starting on July 5, you are in good company because here at the Hearing Associates of Las Vegas, we are also prepping to see some exciting games.

But as you prepare for your attendance at the games, has your preparations included considering your hearing health? If not, you may be leaving yourself open to developing hearing loss while you attend the summer league games.

Damaging Decibels Can Be Reached At NBA Summer League

Part of the fun of attending the NBA Summer League in person is the immersion in the sights and sounds of the game as well as the overall energy of the other attendees. But the decibel levels (dB) can reach damaging levels as the excited pitch of the game rises.

When it comes to decibels, our hearing can become damaged by prolonged exposure to 85-90 dB. Usually, this exposure needs to last for two or more hours before hearing damage occurs, but some people are more sensitive to hearing damage than others.

Also, you would be surprised how many regular sounds we are exposed to are in this dangerous noise levels. Normal conversations are usually around 60 dB, while things like hairdryers and lawnmowers usually reach levels around 90 dB.

Now, let’s take a sports center like the Thomas & Mack Center. This arena was designed to carry sound to even the farthest seats and has a variety of microphones and speakers to amplify the sounds of the stadium. Between these things and the overall excitement of the attending crowd, sporting events like the NBA Summer League can reach decibels over 120 dB!

How Sustained Loud Noise Damage Affects Your Hearing

Now, we already mentioned that exposure to noise damage can lead to hearing loss. But as the deafening effects of attending a noisy event can seem temporary after you leave the venue, this is not the case. Some ways your hearing can be permanently affected by loud noise damage are:

• Tinnitus – One of the unexpected side effects of attending loud events is tinnitus. This hearing condition is often triggered by loud noise exposure, and while some people only experience tinnitus temporarily, you may end up with permanent tinnitus that can be difficult to manage.
• Sensorineural hearing loss – This type of hearing loss is often acquired via loud noise exposure and leaves your inner ear permanently damaged. Once this damage has happened, only by using assistive devices like hearing aids can you have your hearing even partially restored.
• Balance issues – Your inner ear affects your balance, especially if something affects the semicircular canals in your inner ear. Loud noise exposure can damage the delicate hair cells in the semicircular canals like it can with the cochlea, leaving you with balance issues.

Ways Care For Your Hearing While At NBA Summer League

But don’t worry, you don’t have to skip the NBA Summer League to protect your hearing! All you need to do is take some reasonable precautions to keep your hearing in top shape.

Get Hearing Checked Before And After

Before you attend a game, you may want to come in for a hearing evaluation with one of our hearing health care professionals. This hearing test can establish a baseline for your current hearing and help our specialists assess if your hearing does become damaged by attending one of the games.

Also, if our hearing instrument specialists find that you do have hearing damage, it is important that it is addressed early so that you don’t suffer from the negative effects of hearing loss.

Use Hearing Protection

While you don’t need to wear earmuffs to attend a sporting event, you should bring and use hearing protection. This protection can be as simple as using a set of disposable foam earplugs to protect your delicate hearing.

If you are a regular attendee of sporting events, concerts, gun range shooting, and other noisy entertainment, you may want to invest in reusable hearing protection. You can easily find quality reusable hearing protection that costs anywhere from $10 to a few hundred. If you aren’t sure what you should choose, you can always talk to our hearing specialists.

Take Breaks

There are natural lulls during any sporting event. You should take advantage of these breaks and duck out into the hallway to give your ears a break. That way, you aren’t constantly exposed to high levels of decibels.

Have Hearing Aids Checked

Should you already have hearing loss and wear hearing aids, it isn’t a free pass to blast your ears. Your hearing can become further damaged without care, requiring you to have your hearing aids recalibrated to match your new level of hearing loss.

Instead of putting yourself in that position, come by one of our Las Vegas hearing offices and have your hearing aids checked. Once they are calibrated for your hearing by our hearing instrument specialists, you can enjoy excellent hearing while at the games and stay safe.

Sit Further Back

The further back from the main action, the better for your hearing. As sports arenas are built like funnels, they tend to channel sound to the narrowest points, which are the closer seats. So, by choosing a seat further back, you can both protect your hearing and save some money!

For tailored hearing health care help, contact us. Our hearing offices are ready to help you prepare to enjoy the NBA Summer League games safely and live with better hearing overall.