Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Noise
Noise is all around you, from televisions and radios to lawn mowers and washing machines. Normally, you hear these sounds at safe levels that don't affect hearing. But sounds that are too loud or loud sounds over a long time are harmful. They can damage sensitive structures of the inner ear and cause noise-induced hearing loss.
More than 30 million Americans are exposed to hazardous sound levels on a regular basis. Hazardous sound levels are louder than 80 decibels. That's not as loud as traffic on a busy street. Listening to loud music, especially on headphones, is a common cause of noise-induced hearing loss. You can protect your hearing by:
- Keeping the volume down when listening to music
- Wearing earplugs when using loud equipment
It sits within Ear, Nose and Throat and Poisoning, Toxicology, Environmental Health.
The lead U.S. institute for this subject is the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Research on Noise
374 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.
What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.
Research currently under way
- Transcranial Stimulation Combined With Auditory TrainingBoston University Charles River Campus
- Comparative Efficacy of Earplug Usage InstructionSirinthorn Chanaveroj
- The Effect of Sound-Based Interventions on Pain and Anxiety in Pediatric PatientsTokat Gaziosmanpasa University
- Non-Invasive System to Deliver Therapeutic Hypothermia for Protection Against Noise-Induced Hearing LossRestorear Devices LLC
- Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Sleep StudyUniversity of Pennsylvania
- MCI Speech in NoiseDartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
Research already completed
- AI ANC Headphones in Rotational AtherectomyQilu Hospital of Shandong University
- The Therapeutic Effects of Dextrose Injection for Myofascial Pain SyndromeNational Cheng-Kung University Hospital
- A Study of Silent Alarm Delivery Versus Standard Audible Alarm Delivery in Intensive Care and High Dependency UnitsMindWave Medical Inc
- Evaluation of an Artificial Intelligence Algorithm Reducing Noise on Fast Whole-body Bone Tomoscintigraphy Acquisitions Recorded by a 360 Degree Cadmium-Zinc-Tellurid CameraCentral Hospital, Nancy, France
- Notched Noise Therapy for Suppression of TinnitusVA Office of Research and Development
Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Start Here
- About Noise-Induced Hearing LossCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
- Noise PollutionEnvironmental Protection Agency
- Noise-Induced Hearing LossNational Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
Related Issues
- Occupational Noise ExposureOccupational Safety and Health Administration
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: NoiseNational Institutes of Health
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Noise. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Noise, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.