Noise #131: Wear earplugs

Loud guns, sensitive ears, and a hearing-loss map of America

An ultra-detailed new map, highlighted today by The Washington Post, shows a fascinating breakdown of hearing loss across the U.S.

Rural areas have the most severely amplified rates, it seems, and the Post argues that firearm use is a major culprit:

A single gunshot, which at 140 decibels or higher is one of the loudest sounds we encounter, can cause dam…