OSHA vs. NIOSH vs. EarAware Guidelines

When it comes to noise exposure, you’ve probably heard names like OSHA and NIOSH thrown around—but what do these acronyms actually mean, and why should you care?

Let’s break it down:

·        OSHA stands for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a U.S. government agency that sets and enforces safety standards in the workplace.

·        NIOSH is the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a research agency that recommends best practices to protect workers’ health—even if they’re more cautious than what the law requires.

This alphabet soup of acronyms matters because the numbers they promote affect how long it’s considered "safe" to be exposed to loud sounds—whether you're in a factory, a concert, or a classroom.

Here’s how their recommendations differ:

OSHA allows up to 90 dBA of continuous noise exposure for 8 hours a day, using a 5 dB exchange rate. That means for every 5 dB increase in volume, the maximum safe exposure time is cut in half. At 95 dBA, OSHA allows just 4 hours; at 100 dBA, only 2. But OSHA's goal is legal compliance—not necessarily optimal health. Its standards are designed to keep employers out of trouble, not to prevent all hearing damage.

NIOSH, on the other hand, recommends a more protective limit: 85 dBA for 8 hours, but using a 3 dB exchange rate. That’s because every 3 dB increase doubles the sound energy—and therefore doubles the potential risk to your ears. NIOSH’s goal is not legal coverage, but to prevent hearing loss in the majority of workers over a career of daily exposure.

EarAware builds on that foundation and goes even further. Our recommended limit is 80 dBA for 8 hours, also using a 3 dB exchange rate, but with a different mission: to account for damage you can’t feel or see yet. We're talking about hidden hearing loss, like cochlear synaptopathy—nerve damage that doesn’t show up on a basic hearing test but can seriously affect clarity, especially in noise. These subtle forms of damage are increasingly common in young people exposed to concerts, gyms, video games, and earbuds.

In short:

·        OSHA sets the legal minimum.

·        NIOSH defines the medical ideal.

·        EarAware adds a layer of protection against the silent damage that traditional standards miss—while still being grounded in what people can actually do.

A Closer Look at the Guidelines

OSHA 90 dBA 8 hours 5 dB Exchange Rate — for Industry compliance

NIOSH 85 dBA 8 hours 3 dB Exchange Rate — More Scientific. Balances Industry and Preventing hearing loss

EarAware 80 dBA 8 hours 3 dB — Accounting for hidden damage

🧠 What is an “exchange rate”?
It’s how quickly the allowed exposure time drops as volume rises. A 3 dB exchange rate means that every 3 dB increase doubles the energy and halves the safe exposure time.
For example, if 85 dBA is safe for 8 hours, then:

  • 88 dBA = 4 hours

  • 91 dBA = 2 hours

  • 94 dBA = 1 hour
    This reflects how small increases in volume create large increases in risk.

OSHA: Established for Industrial Noise

OSHA was created to regulate industrial noise—the kind that’s unavoidable in many workplaces. It must walk a line between protecting workers and allowing industry to function. If OSHA’s limits were too strict, no one could work in airports or machine shops.

OSHA is a Legal Regulatory Entity, empowered to impose fines. But fundamentally, its job is to define the maximum toxicity the human ear can endure before requiring compensation.

Even OSHA admits that one in four workers exposed to 90 dBA over a 40-year career will develop hearing impairment. And that’s based only on low frequencies (500–2000 Hz). If OSHA included 4 kHz—which is even more vulnerable—that number would be even higher.

Source: OSHA. Hearing Conservation Program for Construction Workers. Federal Register, Vol. 67, No. 150 (August 5, 2002), pp. 43802–43803.

NIOSH: Science-Based, Not Law-Based

NIOSH is a research agency, not a regulatory one. It provides scientific recommendations to protect health, but it doesn’t enforce laws.

NIOSH recommends 85 dBA for 8 hours with a 3 dB exchange rate—stricter than OSHA by design. Its focus is on preventing damage, not just compensating for it.

Still, NIOSH’s standard isn’t perfect. Even at 85 dBA, the lifetime risk of hearing loss is about 1 in 8 workers.

For surveillance, NIOSH tracks hearing thresholds across frequencies like 500, 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, and 6000 Hz.

It defines material hearing impairment as:

  • A binaural average of 500–4000 Hz ≥ 25 dB HL, or

  • A ≥15 dB threshold shift at 3k, 4k, or 6k Hz—early signs of auditory damage.

You can pass a NIOSH audit and still develop both conventional and hidden hearing loss.

The EarAware Public Noise Safety Guidelines

Developed from leading research in public health, neuroscience, and acoustics, the EarAware Guidelines recommend limiting noise exposure to:

  • 80 dBA for up to 8 hours per day (with a 3 dB exchange rate)

  • These represent stricter limits for children, musicians, and at-risk groups but are also appropriately protective for the general population

  • Target Average Volume to be no more than 85 dBA (Sub-85 Keeps your Ears Alive!)

These recommendations align with WHO public health initiatives1 and recent research on hidden hearing loss and cochlear synaptopathy, which show that damage to the auditory nerve can begin even when standard hearing tests remain normal2. EarAware’s guidelines go beyond industrial safety standards to protect people in everyday listening environments such as concerts, classrooms, gyms, bars, and through headphone use.

EarAware Guidelines are intentionally more protective than occupational noise limits, because recreational noise is optional, unlike industrial noise exposure. Industrial noise may be unavoidable for workers, but concerts, music classes, and headphone use are voluntary—so the safety bar should be higher.

The exposure thresholds are based on:

  • ISO 1999:2013, which provides mathematical models to estimate noise-induced hearing loss based on exposure levels, age, and duration3;

  • NIOSH guidelines, which recommend 85 dBA for 8 hours/day with a 3 dB exchange rate4; and

  • Research by Roberts and Neitzel, who argued that 85 dBA is not protective enough for general (non-occupational) populations5.

NIOSH data show that exposure to 85 dBA for 8 hours/day over time results in a 9 dB permanent threshold shift (PTS) at 4 kHz in 99% of children6.

EarAware’s goal is to cut that risk to nearly zero, aiming for a maximum of 2.1 dB PTS—a level so low that it would not be detected on a conventional audiogram, which only measures in 5 dB increments.

EarAware’s standards go further to protect you from damage you won’t feel—until it’s too late.

Why “Sub-85 Keeps Your Ears Alive” Still Stands

If EarAware recommends 80 dBA, why do we say “Sub-85 Keeps Your Ears Alive”?

The answer lies in striking a balance between safety and practicality.

Safety recommendations only work if people can realistically follow them. We recognize that a hard cap at 80 dBA may be too restrictive for many public venues, classrooms, gyms, and musicians. People ignore unrealistic rules.

Meanwhile, 85 dBA is the threshold where virtually every scientific and regulatory body agrees harm begins—including OSHA, NIOSH, and WHO. That’s why even OSHA mandates hearing protection starting at 85 dBA.

So 85 dBA sits at a practical crossroads:

  • It’s the upper threshold of caution per NIOSH.

  • It’s a reasonable target average for EarAware's public health mission.

  • And it’s still protective enough to prevent most long-term damage if exposure is time-limited.

There’s also a difference between 8 hours of occupational noise and a 2-hour concert. A short burst at 85 dBA is much less harmful than an all-day exposure—even if the volume is the same.

So when we say “Sub-85 Keeps Your Ears Alive,” we’re offering a science-aligned, real-world target:
A level that’s protective enough to matter, but practical enough to follow.

It’s not the floor. It’s not the ceiling. It’s the sweet spot.

Footnotes

  1. World Health Organization. Make Listening Safe Initiative. WHO, 2019. https://www.who.int ↩

  2. Kujawa, S. G., & Liberman, M. C. (2009). “Adding Insult to Injury: Cochlear Nerve Degeneration after ‘Temporary’ Noise-Induced Hearing Loss.” Journal of Neuroscience, 29(45), 14077–14085. ↩

  3. International Organization for Standardization. ISO 1999:2013 Acoustics — Estimation of noise-induced hearing loss. ↩

  4. NIOSH (1998). Criteria for a Recommended Standard: Occupational Noise Exposure. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ↩

  5. Roberts, B., & Neitzel, R. (2017). “Estimating risk of noise-induced hearing loss from non-occupational noise exposure.” International Journal of Audiology, 56(11), 791–801. ↩

  6. Neitzel, R. et al. (2019). Modeling pediatric hearing loss risk from environmental noise exposure using ISO 1999. Conference on the Noise-Induced Hearing Loss in Children at Work and Play. ↩