Can hockey playoffs harm your hearing?

Noise-induced hearing loss because of occupational exposure is well-known, but little is known about auditory damage caused by noise during leisure activities.

Hodgetts and Liu report on the possible risk of hearing loss for those who attend hockey games frequently. One of the authors wore a data-logging dosimeter to games 3, 4 and 6 of the 2006 Stanley Cup final playoff series between the Edmonton Oilers and the Carolina Hurricanes. Two auidometric tests were used for the pre- and post-game measures: pure-tone audiometry and otoacoustic emissions.

The authors report that in terms of projected noise dose, each person in the arena used by the Edmonton Oilers not wearing hearing protection received about 8100% of their daily allowable noise dose, even though games last less than three hours

By Canadian Medical Association Journal