why is exposure time a factor to how damaging to the ears a high dB sound is ?

Question

not really an but I can understand 120dB being harmful if you get exposed to it for a second but 90dB has to be over a 2 hour time exposure to get hearing loss.

Why is time a factor and what mechanism causes hearing loss upon being exposed to high decibles

In: 2

Answer 1

Does it do more or less damage if you get punched once or if you get punched every second for two hours? It’s exactly like that with pretty much every sort of thing that damages your body via exposure – there’s just plain more energy being imparted to screw things up the longer the dangerous condition is maintained.