I have a large industrial quality “Patton” brand fan aimed away from me, running on high about 10 feet away from my chair for the several hours a day I horse around on the net. I use it use to push room air out a screened window as a sort of mini whole house fan. It’s quite loud and sounds like a propeller airplane in flight.
Will this thing put a “notch” in my hearing over time?
The best way to tell is to measure the sound level with a meter. You dont need an expensive sound level meter. Take the measurement from the point your head is at.
Then compare the dBA measurement to a noise exposure standard. Less that 85 dBA for 8 hours is excepted as OK.
I doubt very mush that a fan would create a sound pressure level high enough to cause harm. But nothing beats empirical data.
Of course it’s possible. It’s all a matter of decibels. Guys who’ve been in the logging industry (or other jobs with proximity to loud machinery) will develop hearing loss given enough time, even if they wear hearing protection every single day. Seconding the recommendation to check out a sound meter. I found this one on amazon for $30.
incidentally, would the sound meter apps on the ios be useful for such a case? i’d always wondered if they were accurate or useful.
this one for example - http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/decibel-meter-pro/id382776256?mt=8
I sure hope not. Since I have a clip on fan attached to my window sill. I like a breeze on me all night long in hot weather. Otherwise, I’d have to turn the AC down to 72 at night. The fan is a compromise with my wife. It’s small enough to only blow on me.
Up at work, I did finally relocate the dept server. I had it on a table in my office for three years. There were at least five fans and four SCSI hard drives in it. As the fans got older they got louder. So, I moved it into the file room so nobody would be sitting next to it.
I’m going to say no, but YMMV.
Wayyyy back in the early 80’s (from '82 to 88) I worked exclusively 3rd shift. In order to sleep during the day through the noise from the neighborhood I ran a large fan to drowned it out.
After 6+ years of this I got so used to the “white noise” of the fan that to this day I cannot fall into a decent deep sleep without it. It took my wife a while to get used to it when I started going to bed a night with her, but she did.
I’m not kidding. I cannot sleep without a big fan running. If we stay in a hotel I have to turn the air/fan on full blast or I’m up all night.
Last November I had to take a full comprehensive physical, including a hearing test in a booth. The results were my hearing was well above normal, especially for my age (50). But YMMV.
Antechinus has got it: head to Radio Shack and buy a cheap sound meter. If the sound level where your head is is less than 85 dB, you’re probably OK. My guess is you’re fine. My lawn mower registers 85 dB where my head is when I’m mowing, and I’ll wager your fan is quieter than my lawn mower.
a fan on high speed might be good to feel the breeze blowing on you. to blow out a window with a screen then a slower speed might be better for air flow, the high speed might be too turbulent and you actually get less air through the screen. a slower speed will be less noise as well.
Same thing with me. I’ve slept with an 18" fan on high speed about 3’ from my head for years. Can’t sleep without it and it hasn’t affected my hearing.