How loud is too loud for your hearing?
Why decibels are confusing
The scale is logarithmic, so the numbers do not add the way they look. An increase of 10 dB is roughly twice as loud to your ears but ten times the sound energy. That is why a jump from 90 to 100 dB matters far more than the small-looking difference suggests.
What a phone meter can and cannot tell you
Phone microphones are designed for speech and compress loud sounds, so readings above roughly 100 dB become unreliable and usually read low. Below that, a good app is accurate enough to tell you whether a room is 70 or 95 dB — which is the decision that actually matters.
Treat the number as a guide, not an instrument reading. If a meter says 95 dB, the real answer is somewhere near there, and near there is already too loud for long exposure.
The warning signs
Ringing after a loud event, or sounds seeming muffled the next morning, means the ears took damage that they may or may not fully recover from. Repeated episodes accumulate.
The practical rule: if you have to raise your voice to be heard by someone an arm's length away, the environment is above 85 dB. Foam earplugs cut 20–30 dB and cost almost nothing — musicians' plugs reduce volume without dulling the sound, which is why people actually keep them in.
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