Noise-Induced Hearing Loss At The Gym | Custom Ear Plugs

t’s July and your New Year’s resolution is wearing thin. You promised you would go to the gym more, and you know that those cupcakes keep calling your name every time you walk into the supermarket, but your gut is telling you to skip it and hit the elliptical for another hour and a half confused gazelle stride session. (But does the elliptical work? Or is it a giant awkward excuse to just not run on the treadmill) However you forego the cupcake, slap on your perma-wrinkled running shirt and shorts and the same pair of sneakers that every reformed runner has that beckons sadly underneath the boxes in your closest, and you get your cupcake binging self to the gym.

After shamelessly walking through the front door avoiding contact with every other member in the place(Especially the trainers) you find your way to the cardio section where lo and behold every single piece of cardio equipment is taken by working moms and middle-aged men looking to tighten up for this year’s vacation to Nassau. But hope fills your heart when you see that one treadmill is available, its beckoning light calls to you. You beeline for it and decide to dump your gear around you and worry about putting it in the locker room whenever who cares you made it this far.

On arrival, your gut drops, its the treadmill from 1984, the one that hitches with each step and halts like an ill-working belt sander whenever you apply too much foot pressure. You let out a sigh, undaunted you step aboard and begin your run. 3 minutes pass and you are feeling fleet of foot, and the near-death experience of nearly face planting due to sticky treadmill foot has passed, and you begin to ease into your workout.

Then without warning the guy that you swear was in jersey shore shark attack drops his last deadlift with Arnolds signature York barbell and you swear you have just transported into a sheet metal punching facility. Looking over your mind forgets that you are running on Laffy Taffy and you step too hard which leads to you learning about your superhuman reflects as you grasp out for the handles to gain your balance back, your legs kick out to the side. With the warped turd of a treadmill still galloping along under you at a brisk 7.5, you look over at Tony or Scott or chad (It’s always Chad) as he mounts the squat rack with four screaming metal plates.

An hour and a half later you finish your workout on the middle-age, man sweat-stained treadmill that you gave a thorough wipedown. And with one more slam from Chad’s barbell, he concludes giving you a wink and a smile as he jumps over the front desk of the weight room and unplugs his iPod nano that cuts off Five Finger Death Punch maxing out the gyms speaker systems. You head out to your car exhausted but fulfilled, and besides Chad’s offensive presence you feel fulfilled.

You get in your car which has become a small sanctuary on wheels, shut the door and sit for a second in the dark as the interior light slowly burns out. Something is odd; however, in the complete silence of your vehicle, your ears are ringing. And whether you know it or not you have been dosed by potentially dangerous decibels for the last hour and a half.

Within frequent gym visitors, this is a scenario that although humorous in its explanation is sadly very common and is an example of how your local gym can cause you Noise-Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) and happens to men and women every day at gyms around the world. (Article)

We have talked with many gym owners and they express that it’s all part of the experience and without the loud intensity that it would not be the same experience.

So what does it come down to, (you), it’s the same you that is getting in shape that has to be responsible to prevent Noise-Induced Hearing Loss at the gym and other places in your life.

You need to do some research and find the best custom ear plugs for you.

How to choose the right earplugs.