The Fourth of July is a time for barbecues, parades, patriotic playlists, and, of course, fireworks. But amid the celebration, there’s a hidden risk many people overlook: hearing damage.

Whether you’re lighting fireworks at home or watching a professional display, the noise levels can be high enough to cause permanent hearing loss, for both people and pets. Here, we discuss the risks to our hearing health that fireworks pose as well as some tips for staying safe this holiday. 

When we think about hearing protection, we often focus on people, from construction workers, to musicians, to city dwellers. But there’s another population at risk for hearing damage that often goes overlooked: dogs.

In particular, working dogs like those used for hunting, law enforcement, search and rescue, and military purposes, routinely encounter environments that are just as noisy, if not louder, than what their human partners experience. And unlike humans, dogs can’t tell us when something doesn’t sound right.