Can overly loud frequencies below the human hearing range damage our hearing?

[jtvang125]

Say you're playing a tone in the range of 5-10hz at a 120 db level in a unconfined area. You probably can't hear but you'll definitely feel it. Can long exposure to this cause hearing damage?

 

[KIAman]

It might not cause hearing damage, but it could cause brain damage which could result in neural hearing damage.

Hearing damage is caused by damage to stereocilia which is tuned to resonate at specific frequencies. There is no steoreocilia designed for below 20hz so no hearing damage in regards to the sound itself.

Although any sound source loud enough will damage tissue regardless.

 

[soccerballtux]

anything below 7hz is detected as a pressure change anyways.
It's hard to lose hearing from bass I think...sure the amplitude is massive but the frequency is so low that the net power transmitted into the ear is much less.

 

[blahblah99]

At such a low frequency, you'd probably feel it in your eardrums than hear it.

 

[Gillbot]

Originally posted by: blahblah99
At such a low frequency, you'd probably feel it in your eardrums than hear it.

You usually feel it in your chest.

Actually, low frequency can damage hearing just as readily as high frequency.

 

[masterbm]

That is cool to know

 

[soccerballtux]

Originally posted by: Gillbot

Originally posted by: blahblah99
At such a low frequency, you'd probably feel it in your eardrums than hear it.

You usually feel it in your chest.

Actually, low frequency can damage hearing just as readily as high frequency.

There are no studies to refute (or support) your claim. However, energy is inversely proportional to wavelength, so the consensus currently is that lower frequencies (think subwoofer range) are less likely to damage hearing. The bass detecting stereophilli hairs are thicker and more resilient.

Given a high enough amplitude lf signal, however, they can still be damaged. Given equal amplitude signals of varying frequencies, the higher frequencies are much more likely to cause the thinner stereophilli to break-- because they're swaying back and forth more often (exponentially more so for increasing octaves).

So, while there haven't been any conclusive studies yet, theoretically lf signals are much less likely to damage your hearing.

 

[Modelworks]

They actually did a lot of government studies concerning really loud sounds and the human body. It was for the defense department. They had the idea that generating sound waves at large groups could be a way to attack without using lethal force. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_weaponry

The U.S. DOD has demonstrated phased arrays of infrasonic emitters. The weapon usually consists of a device that generates sound at about 7 Hz. The output from the device is routed (by pipes) to an array of open emitters. At this frequency, armor and concrete walls and other common building materials allow sound waves to pass through, providing little defense.

I remember watching one field test with ultra low frequencies at nearly 140db, caused the participants about 100ft away to become nauseated and vomit

 

[PlasmaBomb]

140db is probably enough to run the risk of pneumothorax 🙁

Reading for you regarding low frequency noise -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noise_pollution

Jesús Barreiro, Mercedes Sánchez, Montserrat Viladrich-Grau (2005), "How much are people willing to pay for silence? A contingent valuation study", Applied Economics, 37 (11)

 

[BladeVenom]

Hit the brown note. 🙂