(HealthDayNews) -- If you drive an 18-wheeler for a living, you may need to make some tough choices down the road.
The American Industrial Hygiene Association Journal reports that the sounds made by a heavy truck can be noisy enough to harm your hearing.
The noise made by the truck itself is about 83 decibels (dB). The maximum safe noise exposure level over an eight-hour period is 85 dB. After that, continued loud noises cause hearing loss.
So if you're driving the rig and turn on the radio, that increases the sound level by 2.8 dB. Opening the window increases the sound level by another 1.3 dB. And driving on four-lane highways increases the sound level, probably because of higher speeds, by 1.6 dB
