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Nearly 30 million American adults live with some degree of hearing loss. An expert who manages sound at large-scale live events says the culprit is often routine behaviour, not obvious one-off incidents.
Hearing loss tends not to announce itself. Unlike a broken bone or a visible injury, the damage accumulates gradually – often over years of habits that feel entirely unremarkable. By the time the effects become noticeable in daily life, the underlying harm is typically well established and irreversible.
According to figures from the National Center for Biotechnology Information, approximately one in eight American adults lives with some level of hearing loss. James Grifo, Owner and CEO of Audio Visual Nation, a company that staffs large-scale live events for major corporate clients, says the habits most likely to cause that damage are not the obvious ones.
“The biggest mistake people make is thinking hearing damage only happens from obviously loud events like concerts or construction sites,” Grifo said. “In reality, it’s the everyday habits – the stuff you do without thinking – that add up over the years.”
Below, Grifo identifies five common habits that audio professionals are trained to guard against, and explains how the same principles apply to daily life.
1. Listening at Maximum Volume
The hair cells in the inner ear that convert sound into nerve signals do not regenerate once damaged. Sustained exposure to high decibel levels destroys them incrementally, and the threshold at which damage begins is lower than most people assume.
Audio professionals working large events monitor sound levels continuously because prolonged exposure above 85 decibels carries a risk of permanent hearing loss. Most smartphones at full volume can exceed 100 decibels – louder than a chainsaw. The issue is not an occasional burst of loud audio but the daily repetition of maximising volume during commutes, exercise, or work.
2. Using Earbuds That Do Not Fit Correctly
A poor seal between an earbud and the ear canal allows external noise to bleed in, which typically prompts the listener to increase the volume to compensate. The result is higher sound exposure than the listener intends or realises.
“If you’re constantly adjusting your earbuds or turning up the volume to hear clearly, that’s a sign they’re not working properly for your ears,” Grifo said. Ill-fitting earbuds also create a secondary risk: the likelihood of ear infections, which can affect hearing temporarily or, if left untreated, permanently.
3. Excessive Alcohol Consumption
The connection between heavy drinking and hearing is less widely known than the risks associated with loud noise, but research supports it. Alcohol affects the auditory cortex – the region of the brain responsible for processing sound – and can also damage the inner ear’s hair cells directly. Chronic heavy drinking has been linked to difficulty distinguishing sounds in noisy environments, a phenomenon researchers refer to as a degraded “cocktail party effect,” even when the ear itself is functioning normally.
4. Skipping Hearing Protection in Noisy Situations
Power tools, lawn equipment, motorcycles, and live sporting events all generate sustained noise levels that warrant hearing protection. Many people wear none, treating brief exposures as inconsequential. The cumulative effect of years of unprotected exposure tells a different story.
“In the live event industry, nobody goes near a stage or speaker array without proper ear protection, even if it’s just for a few minutes,” Grifo said. “We treat every exposure as significant because we understand the long-term impact.” He argues the same logic applies to a Saturday afternoon with a leaf blower.
5. Never Taking Listening Breaks
Continuous audio exposure – even at moderate volumes – prevents the auditory system from recovering between sessions. Working with headphones in for eight to ten hours, or habitually falling asleep with earbuds in, means the ears never get the rest they need.
“At major events, our audio crews rotate positions and take regular breaks away from high-volume areas,” Grifo said. “It’s a simple strategy that makes a massive difference over time. Your ears need recovery periods, just like any other part of your body after sustained use.”
What Audio Professionals Do Differently
The principles Grifo’s crews apply on the floor of a 10,000-person corporate event are not complicated – they are simply followed consistently. Proper equipment, regular monitoring, and structured breaks form the foundation.
For everyday listeners, Grifo recommends the 60/60 rule as a practical starting point: no more than 60 percent of maximum volume, for no more than 60 minutes at a time. He also suggests investing in quality over-ear headphones rather than earbuds where possible, since better sound isolation reduces the temptation to raise the volume against background noise.
A useful real-world test: if you need to raise your voice to be heard by someone standing next to you, the environment is loud enough to warrant hearing protection.
“Your hearing doesn’t come back once it’s gone,” Grifo said. “These small adjustments now can preserve your quality of life for decades.”
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