The Musicians’ Clinics of Canada announced the latest update for its Temporary Hearing Loss Test app. Among its updates, the app is now free and is available for iOS and Android platforms, by clicking on the links.

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Often, the early signs of hearing loss show up as a temporary change in one’s hearing threshold. This typically resolves within 16-18 hours and is something we’ve all experienced, particularly after a loud concert or a long day at work. The symptoms can include a feeling of muffled sound and ringing in the ears. The Temporary Hearing Loss Test app measures the softest sound that can be heard before the music or noise exposure, and then again, after the music or noise exposure. The difference is a measure of the temporary hearing loss, also known as temporary threshold shift (or TTS).

A small shift, measured in decibels or dB, is not significant, but larger ones between 6-15 dB (orange), or even greater than 15 dB (red) can be indicators of overexposure.

If this happens, The Musicians’ Clinics of Canada recommends a day or two of relative quiet, which may be very useful in order to prevent this temporary problem from becoming a permanent one. Hearing protection would also be very useful if you find yourself in a similar environment in the future.

Source: Musicians’ Clinic of Canada

Image: Musicians’ Clinic of Canada