You can easily damage your ears without knowing it.Why Are Sound Waves Longitudinal 9 min read Reading Time: 6 minutes always wear ear protection when using noisy machinery.move away from loudspeakers at noisy venues and try to take a break from the loud sound every 15 minutes.limit the use of earphones to no more than an hour at a time.use noise-cancelling earphones or headphones – do not just turn the volume up to cover up outside noise.keeping the volume down – have the volume so you can hear your music comfortably, but no higher.The good news is that noise-induced hearing loss can be prevented by following safe listening. Doing it regularly will almost certainly lead to hearing loss over time. sound levels at pop concerts may be even higherĮven a short duration of exposure to high-decibel levels such as these can be harmful.at nightclubs and discos the average sound levels can range from 104 to 112 dB.users of earphones usually choose to set the volume between 75 to 105 dB.The time for safe listening decreases as sound levels increase.įor example, a sound as high as 100 dB can be safely listened to for only 15 minutes each day. Hearing a brief sound level of 140 decibels will cause pain and can cause permanent damage to hearingĮighty-five decibels is considered the highest safe sound level for up to a maximum of eight hours.Loud noise above 120 dB can cause immediate harm to your ears.Hearing 90 decibel sound levels for a long time can cause permanent hearing loss.Sound levels above 70 dB over a long period of time may start to damage your hearing.If the sound level is too high, hearing can be damaged. Measuring the sound level with a smartphone may help protect your hearing.

Decibel meters (also called sound-level meters) can even be accessed on a smartphone through apps. It samples and measures sound, giving a readout. Sound level can be measured with a device called a decibel meter.

If you shouted in space nobody would hear you. Sound does not travel through space because space is a vacuum.

sound cannot travel through a vacuum it needs a medium to travel through.

Light however, does pass through a vacuum The experiment shows that sound can travel through gases (air), through a solid (glass), but it cannot travel through a vacuum.

we can still see the bell in the jar, which tells us that light passes through a vacuum.

when the air is removed from the jar you cannot hear the sound because sound needs something to travel through.

when the jar is placed over the bell it is quieter because the jar muffles some of the sound.

You will notice that you start to hear the bell again. You can still see the bell hammer hitting the gong, so you know the bell is ringing, but the sound is not reaching you. You will notice that as air is removed, the ringing sound gets quieter and quieter, until you cannot hear it at all. Listen carefully as the vacuum pump removes the air from inside the jar. Make sure the safety screen remains between you and the bell jar. Keep the bell ringing and turn on the vacuum pump. You should notice that it is not as loud, but you are still able to hear it. Stand behind a safety screen.Ĭlose the switch again and listen to the ring. Make sure it is tightly sealed at the bottom and connect to a vacuum pump. Now place the bell inside a glass jar, called a bell jar, as shown above. These signals travel to the brain along the auditory nerve.Įlectrical signals travel from the cochlea to the brain along the auditory nerve. The snail-shaped cochlea changes the vibrations from the middle ear into nerve signals. The stirrup is the smallest bone in the body. The eardrum is attached to the hammer which is attached to the anvil which is attached to the stirrup. Three small bones which pass on vibrations from the eardrum to the cochlea. The pathway for the sound wave to the ear drum and the middle ear.Ī thin, cone shaped piece of tissue stretched tight across the end of the ear canal. They are quite good for hanging spectacles and sunglasses on too. Its main job is to gather sound waves and funnel them towards the ear canal. This is the outer flap of the ear – the part you see on the side of your head.

Are soundwaves longitudinal