Family Life

10.12.09 | FL News Team

People who drive or ride in convertibles could be harming their hearing. New research says driving with the top flopped at speeds above 50-miles-per-hour can subject the ears to wind noise above 90 decibels. That's about the same as a gasoline powered lawn mower. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention says exposure to that noise level for two hours or longer can cause permanent hearing loss. Researchers used several different convertibles on the same highway and discovered rolling up the windows at high speeds can reduce noise levels to just above that of city traffic.

Sustained noise levels -- whether they're generated by lawn mowers, riding motorcycles or driving convertibles for extended periods -- are more harmful to men. The research was done at the University of California-Irvine and involved more than five-thousand people in the U.S. It found men were at triple the risk of noise-related hearing loss compared to women. The findings were reported at a recent meeting of ear specialists in San Diego.