Just found out 1 in 4 commercial divers has permanent hearing loss from regulator noise

Was reading through some OSHA records last night for a safety course I'm taking and stumbled on a stat that absolutely floored me. Apparently the constant high-pressure air flow from our regulators pushes noise levels over 85 decibels for entire dive shifts. I always thought the noise was just part of the job, but now I'm wondering how many of us are ignoring ear protection. Has anyone else looked into this or found better earplugs that work under a hood?

2 comments

2 Comments

adams8229d ago

Yeah the 85 decibel threshold is actually lower than what most guys are hitting I bet. I looked up some studies after a buddy of mine started getting that ringing in his ears on every surface interval. Most regs at depth push closer to 95-100 decibels especially when you're working hard and breathing heavy. The problem with earplugs under a hood is they always seem to shift around or fall out when you're moving your head. I've been using the custom molded ones from my local dive shop and they stay put way better than the foam ones but they were like $60. Still cheaper than a hearing aid down the road though lol.

bailey.xena29d ago

Whoa hold on, are we really sure this is as bad as people make it sound? I mean yeah my reg is loud but I've been diving for like 15 years and my hearing is fine so far. Feels like every few years there's a new "scare" about something we've all been doing forever. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying ignore your ears but $60 for custom plugs seems like overkill when most of us are only doing like 20-30 dives a year max.