How Loud Is a Firecracker Really?

[Jodi]

Hi!

Yesterday someone threw a firecracker like 5-6 meters from me. Scared the hell out of me of course. (I have bad/loud tinnitus since years, so I´m quite jumpy.)

I was on my way to a nightclub, but of course I instead went home to rest my ears.

Now, I can´t hear any difference, I think, in T-levels. It´s now about 24 H since exposure.

Hopefully, there are no (perceivable) changes in character or loudness.

But, I know this sort of impossible to answer, but how loud is a firecracker? I read 120 dB to 145 dB. Guess bigger fireworks are louder, but usually explodes farther away from people. So maybe the smaller ones are around 120-130 dB?

I´d guess my general over-sensitivity to loud sounds, in particular sudden bangs, and also my sort of phobic relationship to loud sounds makes me experience this event as more serious than it hopefully is?

Right after the bang, I still had no louder T and no muffled hearing or similar changes...

 

[Jodi]

...and for how long can you say the sounds is peaking? I´m thinking about these exposure numbers:

http://dangerousdecibels.org/education/information-center/decibel-exposure-time-guidelines

 

[Jodi]

My calculations says that a 139 dB bang, lasting for 0.117 seconds, should be "ok" according to above mentioned scale.

 

[LeQuack]

I think most European firecrackers have classes, I read somewhere that class 2 (usually green thin ones) one are 120dB @ 8 meters (the safety distance) and class 1 (red fat ones) are supposed to be 120 db @ 15 meters. The latter are the really loud ones. I guess there are also some illegal ones that are possibly even louder. So if were 5-6 meters away that's 120-130dB give or take, depending on the type of firecracker.

 

[Julien87]

My calculations says that a 139 dB bang, lasting for 0.117 seconds, should be "ok" according to above mentioned scale.

Well.. this is not an "exact science". Impulsive noises above 120 db can permanently damage your ears, regardless of their duration. They don't systematically do it, they just can.

 

[Jodi]

Well.. this is not an "exact science". Impulsive noises above 120 db can permanently damage your ears, regardless of their duration. They don't systematically do it, they just can.

Yes. I guess what keeps me calm is that I did´nt notice any changes as of yet.

This opposed to when my T first appeared 16 years ago, from a firecracker exploding very close to me, like 0.5 meters. That time my ears were crackeling/tingling when people tried to talk to me... Horrible. This time, nothing so far.

 

[LeQuack]

I think you should be fine, even thought it was loud, you seemed to be a safe distance away, 5-6 meters is less than you think so it was possibly a bit further away. And 0.5 meters is basically right near your feet, if you extend your arm that's about 70 cm so less than that. And you have to calculate the distance to the ear as well, so even 0.5m away is still about your height away from your ear, like 1.7-1.9 meters away. Guns are more dangerous in this regard because they're as loud and also louder than fireworks and the end of the barrel is basically just an arm's length away from your ear.

 

[Jodi]

Guns are more dangerous in this regard because they're as loud and also louder than fireworks and the end of the barrel is basically just an arm's length away from your ear.

Yes, I think a lot about guns and the US, like, more people should have T from guns, and firecrackers... I know I was born with more sensitive ears than say, a general population. But still...

 

[LadyDi]

Depends on the size of the firecracker, I imagine.
I think that sometimes, those of us with T can get a little caught up in exactly HOW loud something is. Is it 120db? 130db? Does it really matter? Both are really, really loud.

 

[Jodi]

those of us with T can get a little caught up in exactly HOW loud something is. Is it 120db? 130db? Does it really matter?

True. Well, I guess it matters for us; trying to make choices regarding protection, exposure, and dealing with the fact that what we perceive as very loud, possibly maybe is not that loud, even though still quite risky, since most of us probably have:

1. A bit more sensitive hearing cells than others, in general.
2. Hyper acusis
3. A phobia-like fear of loud sounds, or more specifically the risk of more injury/more T.

 

[Jodi]

"Firecracker 125 dB"

http://www.betterhearing.org/sites/default/files/hearingpedia/noise%20thermometer.png

 

[LeQuack]

Was it the football fans that threw the firecracker or just some random savages?

 

[Jodi]

Random I think.

 

[Ears Hurt]

This makes me nervous with the upcoming holiday in America. The dreaded 4th of July. I hate fireworks now.

 

[LeQuack]

This makes me nervous with the upcoming holiday in America. The dreaded 4th of July. I hate fireworks now.

I would love it to be just a single day like you guys have. Here in Europe especially in some countries they start in the middle of November and it lasts through the whole of December and part of January. And you never know when or where it comes from.

 

[Jodi]

Yeah... Maybe use 9F-plugs when worried? Cuts off 6 dB, not much but... And then use -30 dB plugs when the risk is really high.

 

[Ears Hurt]

I would love it to be just a single day like you guys have. Here in Europe especially in some countries they start in the middle of November and it lasts through the whole of December and part of January. And you never know when or where it comes from.

I guess I should count my blessings. They used to be illegal for private citizens to set them off in my state; however, it has changed the past few years.

 

[Ears Hurt]

Yeah... Maybe use 9F-plugs when worried? Cuts off 6 dB, not much but... And then use -30 dB plugs when the risk is really high.

I have my custom plugs ready for use. I got all the filters with my, so I have the 9, 15, and 25 along with the solid cap.

 

[Jodi]

BTW, I see some talk about steroid-treatment after exposure to lound sound. Any experience? Is it proven to make a difference? Is it done in Germany?

 

[Lauren Morse]

I was exposed to a small string of Chinese firecrackers which set off all my ear problems of the present; someone also through them right in front of me :/ (I really think firecrackers should be banned personally). They were around 120 db, or that is my estimate on the basis that I had no pain in my ears. Larger kinds of firecrackers I imagine are much louder.

My advice to you is to stay away from firecrackers for all eternity, albeit I realize this was an accident that you could not control. Or wear double ear protection (muffs AND plugs) if you cannot resist shooting some off at some point, and stay far away from them. They are incredibly dangerous for the ears and can easily cause permanent ear damage.

If you have just loud T and no fullness or a muffled feeling in your ears, I will fortunately say that your ears are likely to recover from this accident in a few days/weeks; it may just be a spike, and the ears can be resistant to a single impulse noise like that. Just take it easy and don't deliberately expose yourself to really loud noises (clubs, concerts, more fireworks) for a couple of weeks. Taking multivitamins and N-acetyl cysteine may also help your ears recover faster.

Hope you start feeling better swiftly.

 

[Jiri]

A super loud firecracker went off yest night. Just turned my head around, heard someone yell smth which was followed by a loud explosion of light sparks. Now I'm ofc pretty upset about it and worried my 'T' will soon flare up.

Did some googling and found out that the EU regulations forbid selling firecrackers that exceed 120 dB(A) at 3 feet to civilians. However there are firecrackers that by far exceed this limit (category F4), and you need to have a special pass in order to get them. Did some more googling and found web pages which sell these firecrackers (cat. F4 and T2).

One of them is the DUM BUM 50 (cat. F4, 1.1G) that has 165 dB (pretty much a stun grenade) and costs peanuts to get it online!! What's MORE worrying is that they don't require you to have any kind of a pass or proof of a professional qualification! Meaning absolutely anybody can get it. On that particular site I found firecrackers ranging from about 100 dB all the way up to 165 dB.

So apart from pain (i.e. the absolute threshold of hearing graph) and muffled hearing, there's no way of telling how loud a particular firecracker is/was. These should all be banned. Literally stun grenades.

 

[victoria9273]

125 Decibels?? That's an equivalent to a gun fire noise.

 

[EdiSahiti]

so i had some firecrackers explode on my hand they were the ones listed 115db 8m, im from eu and they come a box of 100 so i was holding it on my hand to make it explode on the air, right when i was about to throw it, it exploded, my eyes were with debris from the firecrackers and my ears ringed for about 2 hours or 3 and sometimes my ears just randomly vibrate