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There was a blogpost I read a few years back written by someone who damaged their hearing after dropping a porcelain toilet lid. They actually ran some back-of-

There was a blogpost I read a few years back written by someone who damaged their hearing after dropping a porcelain toilet lid. They actually ran some back-of-the-envelope calculations to estimate the decibel level, I recall it being shockingly high.

gouggoug 7y ago
I've hurt my ears at more than one occasion because of this. It's surprising how loud a porcelain lid can be. Here's the post you're referring to: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/979583605637877760.html https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/979583605637877760.html The TL;DR is that from his calculation the lid dropping could generate noise at 138 dB, and hearing loss happens at around 140 dB.
coke12 7y ago
There was a pretty good HN comment thread about it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16723099 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16723099 From the linked thread: """ 5. The stupid toilet bowl lid only fell about 8 inches. How could it damage my hearing so badly? I looked up the speed of sound in ceramic, divided by the length of the toilet bowl lid (and divided by 2 since the fundamental vibration is a half wavelength). This predicts 3.5 kHz. 6. This frequency is in the audible range. Using the short dimension of the toilet bowl predicts another (higher) frequency. The toilet bowl lid probably resonated at both those frequencies and their harmonics, putting all the energy into just those specific wavelengths. 7. The toilet bowl lid was not chipped or damaged, so the impact energy went mainly into sound (& internal heat) Maybe like half the impact energy went into sound energy. This lid was concave up like an antenna, near my face when it hit, focusing the energy into my face. 8. The energy travels into your inner ear and the cochlea. The pressure wave is strongest at some distance down the cochlea depending on frequency. Since the toilet bowl lid put all the energy into SPECIFIC FREQUENCIES, it was concentrated onto specific spots in the cochlea. 9. Apparently, this concentration of energy was enough to damage the hairs -- to bend them over like trampled grass -- and I was concerned it could be permanent. My hearing was only slightly better the next morning. It was like everybody was still talking at me through kazoos. """ Fascinating. Be careful around dropping shatter-proof ceramics, I suppose!
- Cerium 7y ago
  Be careful dropping glass bottles into recycling bins too; they pose nearly the same problem - they don't usually shatter and the sound escapes the bin upwards towards you.
  - skeletonjelly 7y ago
    Wish I knew this back when I worked in bars, emptying big bins of glass into the outdoor bins. Learnt quickly to look up when I did it.
    - QuixoticQuibit 7y ago
      How would looking up help, though? Unless I’m misunderstanding, the sound would still be coming up straight towards your face/ears.
      - skrebbel 7y ago
        You look up by bending your neck and your upper back, so when your body is bent forward, looking up will actually move your head (incl your ears) further away from the glass bin.
      - cat199 7y ago
        rather than your ears concentrating/funneling the sound into your ear canal, they would be muffling it since the direct sound wave direction would basically now point into your earlobe
      - skeletonjelly 7y ago
        What the other kind commenters said. I just found it worked. I like the analogy of the funnel, pointing it 90 degrees from where it usually is. OH&S wasn't such a thing back in my day (and I'm not even that old), smoking inside was still a thing (banned in that Australian state I was in a long time ago now). I'd use the air conditioners as a break to get some fresh air. But anyway, a big bin full of glass being emptied was damn loud, but all the concerts I went to wouldn't have helped.
chongli 7y ago
Porcelain toilet lids and the metal plates on weightlifting machines are among the most dangerous common objects when it comes to hearing damage. I've heard of cases where the plates on the machine were stuck together with grease and the user had selected a much lighter weight than usual. A number of plates below the linchpin were all the way up by the bonds of the grease before slipping and falling back down. The metal on metal impact rings out like a bell, right next to the user's head (in the case of bench press). Really nasty!
- zaroth 7y ago
  Another good reason to barbell bench and skip the machine!
  - i_am_nomad 7y ago
    Or dumbbell bench with those heavily rubberized weights. Dropping them is about as close to silent as you can get, and the exercises are the ultimate in form-focused weight training.
    - vorpalhex 7y ago
      > heavily rubberized weights They're called bumper plates! They're so you can drop a loaded bar without causing everyone to glare at you - and also to help avoid the plates bouncing onto your foot. But you shouldn't need these on the bench. If you bench without a spotter and get stuck, move the weights to your hip and then sit up and shift them slowly to the floor like you're finishing a deadlift. (I've always called this the 'strongman escape' but it has no formal name afaik)
      - zaroth 7y ago
        Haha, I’ve always heard it called the “roll of shame”. The bumper plates are also round, which makes it easier to get a deadlift into position, and makes it land better when doing reps. The first 45 is a bumper plate, then add regular plates from there. Resist the urge to bounce off the bottom of the rep! :-)
jesusthatsgreat 7y ago
What makes it worse is that quite a few toilet lids are self closing / soft closing these days. So if you get used to it, you start trusting the lid to close itself and take your hand from underneath the lid while it's still at a height. So it's easy to slam the lid down accidentally.
dsfyu404ed 7y ago
I would just like to point out that people have been hitting all sorts of things with other things for millennia and the only people getting hearing damage from it were the ones doing it particularly loudly for decades as their day job (i.e. people in loud factories). This is below the level of terrorist attacks and shark bites in Kansas on the things to worry about list.
- londons_explore 7y ago
  Or... Those are the only ones officially reporting it so they can get workplace compensation... If I dropped my toilet lid, I probably wouldn't officially report it anywhere - not much can be done, after all.

gouggoug 7y ago

I've hurt my ears at more than one occasion because of this. It's surprising how loud a porcelain lid can be. Here's the post you're referring to: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/979583605637877760.html https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/979583605637877760.html The TL;DR is that from his calculation the lid dropping could generate noise at 138 dB, and hearing loss happens at around 140 dB.

coke12 7y ago

There was a pretty good HN comment thread about it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16723099 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16723099 From the linked thread: """ 5. The stupid toilet bowl lid only fell about 8 inches. How could it damage my hearing so badly? I looked up the speed of sound in ceramic, divided by the length of the toilet bowl lid (and divided by 2 since the fundamental vibration is a half wavelength). This predicts 3.5 kHz. 6. This frequency is in the audible range. Using the short dimension of the toilet bowl predicts another (higher) frequency. The toilet bowl lid probably resonated at both those frequencies and their harmonics, putting all the energy into just those specific wavelengths. 7. The toilet bowl lid was not chipped or damaged, so the impact energy went mainly into sound (& internal heat) Maybe like half the impact energy went into sound energy. This lid was concave up like an antenna, near my face when it hit, focusing the energy into my face. 8. The energy travels into your inner ear and the cochlea. The pressure wave is strongest at some distance down the cochlea depending on frequency. Since the toilet bowl lid put all the energy into SPECIFIC FREQUENCIES, it was concentrated onto specific spots in the cochlea. 9. Apparently, this concentration of energy was enough to damage the hairs -- to bend them over like trampled grass -- and I was concerned it could be permanent. My hearing was only slightly better the next morning. It was like everybody was still talking at me through kazoos. """ Fascinating. Be careful around dropping shatter-proof ceramics, I suppose!

Cerium 7y ago
Be careful dropping glass bottles into recycling bins too; they pose nearly the same problem - they don't usually shatter and the sound escapes the bin upwards towards you.
- skeletonjelly 7y ago
  Wish I knew this back when I worked in bars, emptying big bins of glass into the outdoor bins. Learnt quickly to look up when I did it.
  - QuixoticQuibit 7y ago
    How would looking up help, though? Unless I’m misunderstanding, the sound would still be coming up straight towards your face/ears.
    - skrebbel 7y ago
      You look up by bending your neck and your upper back, so when your body is bent forward, looking up will actually move your head (incl your ears) further away from the glass bin.
    - cat199 7y ago
      rather than your ears concentrating/funneling the sound into your ear canal, they would be muffling it since the direct sound wave direction would basically now point into your earlobe
    - skeletonjelly 7y ago
      What the other kind commenters said. I just found it worked. I like the analogy of the funnel, pointing it 90 degrees from where it usually is. OH&S wasn't such a thing back in my day (and I'm not even that old), smoking inside was still a thing (banned in that Australian state I was in a long time ago now). I'd use the air conditioners as a break to get some fresh air. But anyway, a big bin full of glass being emptied was damn loud, but all the concerts I went to wouldn't have helped.

chongli 7y ago

Porcelain toilet lids and the metal plates on weightlifting machines are among the most dangerous common objects when it comes to hearing damage. I've heard of cases where the plates on the machine were stuck together with grease and the user had selected a much lighter weight than usual. A number of plates below the linchpin were all the way up by the bonds of the grease before slipping and falling back down. The metal on metal impact rings out like a bell, right next to the user's head (in the case of bench press). Really nasty!

zaroth 7y ago
Another good reason to barbell bench and skip the machine!
- i_am_nomad 7y ago
  Or dumbbell bench with those heavily rubberized weights. Dropping them is about as close to silent as you can get, and the exercises are the ultimate in form-focused weight training.
  - vorpalhex 7y ago
    > heavily rubberized weights They're called bumper plates! They're so you can drop a loaded bar without causing everyone to glare at you - and also to help avoid the plates bouncing onto your foot. But you shouldn't need these on the bench. If you bench without a spotter and get stuck, move the weights to your hip and then sit up and shift them slowly to the floor like you're finishing a deadlift. (I've always called this the 'strongman escape' but it has no formal name afaik)
    - zaroth 7y ago
      Haha, I’ve always heard it called the “roll of shame”. The bumper plates are also round, which makes it easier to get a deadlift into position, and makes it land better when doing reps. The first 45 is a bumper plate, then add regular plates from there. Resist the urge to bounce off the bottom of the rep! :-)

jesusthatsgreat 7y ago

What makes it worse is that quite a few toilet lids are self closing / soft closing these days. So if you get used to it, you start trusting the lid to close itself and take your hand from underneath the lid while it's still at a height. So it's easy to slam the lid down accidentally.

dsfyu404ed 7y ago

I would just like to point out that people have been hitting all sorts of things with other things for millennia and the only people getting hearing damage from it were the ones doing it particularly loudly for decades as their day job (i.e. people in loud factories). This is below the level of terrorist attacks and shark bites in Kansas on the things to worry about list.

londons_explore 7y ago
Or... Those are the only ones officially reporting it so they can get workplace compensation... If I dropped my toilet lid, I probably wouldn't officially report it anywhere - not much can be done, after all.