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Decibel measurement gauge with green needle pointing to 30 dB

How is Sound Measured?

Many factors influence how loud a sound seems. One easily measured factor is sound intensity, or volume, which is measured in decibels. A-weighted decibels, or “dBA,” are often used to describe sound level recommendations for healthy listening.

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Children using computers in school.

Noisy Planet is on Kahoot!

Test your knowledge about the causes and prevention of hearing loss with an online quiz available from Kahoot!

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Mother holding a newborn baby.

Low-Cost Devices Could Improve Access to Infant Hearing Screenings Worldwide

More families worldwide could soon have access to newborn hearing screening thanks to the design of a screening system that uses simple, lower-cost devices.

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Woman holding her hand up to her ear as if to better hear something.

High-Tech Images Help Scientists "See" Hearing Process

To better understand how we hear, scientists used X-ray crystallography and supercomputers to study tiny structures in our ears.

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A pediatrician examines a young girl's ear with an otoscope.

Breaking Biofilms to Wage War Against Ear Infections

A researcher is using an animal model to discover how a common bacterium causes ear infections that come back again and again.

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A model of the mouse inner ear. The Y-shaped structures are lying horizontally in this model. The long part of each Y shape appears in light blue. At the top of the Y shapes are outer hair cells (these appear in a variety of colors) and two other branches called Dieters' cells and phalangeal processes (these appear in aqua and blue-purple).

Line Up! To Reverse Hearing Loss, New Hair Cells Need to Stand in Formation

Scientists have been studying how to regrow damaged hair cells to restore hearing. Replacing hair cells might not be enough—to function properly, new hair cells also need to be organized in a specific way.

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