If you work in a loud environment, you can be damaging your hearing over time. Although noise-induced hearing loss might be one of the biggest concerns for loud working environments, there are other concerns as well.
Noise is a distraction that reduces productivity, especially for difficult or complex tasks and it stifles communication. It can also lead to danger of not hearing warnings, such as a forklift horn.
Additionally, noise can have far reaching negative effects. Studies have shown that loud noise can increase worker stress and lower workplace morale. Stress from noise effects reading comprehension the most but also increases job errors such as typing and data entry. Low morale reduces productivity regardless of business sector.
Using an app like Decibel 10 for iOS or Sound Meter for Android, you can measure environmental noise in your workplace to help determine noise levels in your working environment. Anything above 85db and you should be looking for solutions to dampen the noise through hearing protection or acoustical solutions.