Wear ear plugs to protect your hearing from Indy noise

My son-in-law phoned and said he was taking my grandson, 4, to see the Monster Trucks. “He’s crazy about them,” he said.

“Make sure to protect his ears,” I cautioned.

Monster Trucks (his favourite is Grave Digger) are noisy beasts. Sound levels up to 100 decibels have been recorded and hearing can be damaged by noise above 85.

That’s right. Noise above 85 decibels can hurt your hearing. You can look it up.

I’m among the lucky ones, it seems. I like going to auto races, such as next weekend’s Honda Indy Toronto, to enjoy the noise. I like being battered by sound, and to feel the ground shake. The cars of the Verizon IndyCar Series can serve up stuff like that on a silver platter.

Before they went all hybrid on us, there was nothing sweeter than the sound of a Formula One car powered by a normally aspirated V8. When I had my own racing cars — each came with a 467-c.i. big-block Chevrolet engine — I timed and tuned them when they were running and I would wrap my arms around the sound, I loved it so much.

Looking back, I have no idea why I’m not as deaf as a doornail.

Now, damage from excessive noise can result in reduced ability to hear (now that I think about it, though, maybe that’s why I don’t hear what my wife’s saying when she’s speaking to me …), Tinnitus (which is a ringing in your ears that won’t go away and I can’t imagine anything more horrible) and deafness (which is something that happens to all rock stars and some racers when they get old).

For ordinary Jacks and Jills, it’s hardly worth the risk.

Which is why, when the Indy cars take to the track for first practice down at Exhibition Place next Friday morning, I recommend you and everybody in your family have on either ear plugs or headphones to keep out the sound.

Without being too alarmist, noise up to 140 decibels is possible when an Indy car is nearby.

There are going to be 21 in the race next weekend. So multiply 140 by 21 at the start of the race, or during restarts, and that’s a wall of sound heading in your direction. Granted, the Indy cars are rockets and the sound passes quickly, as do the cars. Still …

The comparison, of course, that is easiest to understand, is the sound that a jet engine makes when it’s taking off. That would be about 180 decibels.

Just sitting there, on the tarmac, not doing anything, that same jet engine would idle at 140 decibels. So now you know how loud an Indy car can be.

Ear plugs are cheap. You can get them at the Honda Indy. Why take chances when there’s such an easy solution?