The Noisy Planet website retired

Authored by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition

The website for Noisy Planet, a national public education campaign focused on preventing noise-induced hearing loss in children, retired as of May 1, 2025. The text and illustrations on the website were appropriate for schoolchildren aged 8 to 12. Readers are advised to bookmark the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders to stay current on the causes and prevention of noise-induced hearing loss.

I didn’t like the fact that Noisy Planet stated that: “Sound at or above 85 dBA* can cause hearing loss.” That’s simply wrong. The 85 dBA noise exposure standard is an industrial-strength one, taken from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health recommended exposure level for noise. That noise exposure level needs to be reduced. It won’t prevent workers from suffering noise-induced hearing loss, and it’s far too much noise for a child’s delicate ears, which must last an entire lifetime. There are actually no published safe noise recommendations for children. The only evidence-based safe noise exposure standard is 70 decibels time-weighted average for a day and the actual safe noise level may be as low as 55 dBA for a single noise exposure and a daily average of only 55-60 decibels.