F1 Is One of the Loudest Sports on Earth. This Is What Audiologists Recommend to Protect Your Hearing at the Miami Grand Prix
Key takeaways
- If you've ever been close to a Formula One race car, you'll know you can feel it before you even hear it.
- According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, exposure to 85 weighted decibels can cause hearing damage if prolonged.
- Formula One drivers spend a lot of time exposed to that level of noise during race weekends, but they're not the only ones.
If you've ever been close to a Formula One race car, you'll know you can feel it before you even hear it. The best way to describe it is vibrating pressure that moves through your chest and reaches the back of your eyes. An F1 car nowadays can peak at about 140 decibels.
According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, exposure to 85 weighted decibels can cause hearing damage if prolonged. To put things into perspective, 85 decibels is roughly the level of noise you can expect at a busy restaurant or from a hair dryer. At 140 dBA, permanent hearing damage can occur within seconds.
Formula One drivers spend a lot of time exposed to that level of noise during race weekends, but they're not the only ones. Pit crews work within inches of loud engines during practice runs, qualifying races and race day, not to mention the thousands of fans who stand along the track, often over multiple days, and many of whom have no hearing protection at all.