A new study has found that regular gym goers could be damaging their hearing, due to the high noise levels they are exposed to during exercise classes.
The National Acoustic Laboratories found that the noise of fitness classes reached sound levels "almost as high as a jet engine", with circuit and spin classes recording an average noise level of 93 and 94 decibels.
Audiologist Janette Thorburn told The Daily Mail that the ideal range to prevent extensive hearing damage was under 80 decibels but the louder the noise, the shorter amount of time it would take to damage hearing.
"When it approaches the 100 decibels mark, you might get damage after 15 minutes," she said.
"If someone is exposed to this four times a week for about an hour that is going to start damaging your hearing. When you're young you can afford to have these exposures, but as you get older you're more likely to lose your hearing earlier than others because you had that background damage – damage to those inner hair cells."
