Environment and hearing exposure
The Apple Watch logs environmental sound exposure and the iPhone logs headphone audio exposure — hearing loss is irreversible, and these are among the few wearable metrics that can warn ahead of time.
Environmental sound exposuredBA
Field: environmental_audio_exposure
- What it measures
- The equivalent sound level of your surroundings, sampled periodically through the watch microphone. The watch does not record audio, only computes levels.
- What Vita does with it
- Displayed in the Health tab.
- Easily misread
- Sustained exposure above roughly 80 dB accumulates irreversible hearing damage. The WHO environmental noise guidelines give finer thresholds.
Headphone audio exposuredBA
Field: headphone_audio_exposure
- What it measures
- The equivalent level of what you play through headphones, estimated by the iPhone from output volume and headphone model.
- What Vita does with it
- Displayed in the Health tab.
- Easily misread
- Estimates are less accurate for non-Apple headphones. iOS's Headphone Safety setting caps the maximum directly, which is more effective than reviewing the data afterwards.
Limitations
- Neither feeds a score, but they are the only metrics in this guide concerning IRREVERSIBLE damage — which is why they get their own section.
- Vita displays them and does not band hearing risk.
References
Apple. HealthKit — HKQuantityTypeIdentifier reference. Apple Developer Documentation, accessed 2026.
What it supports：The official definition, unit and aggregation style of each metric — the source for how every field on this page is described.
World Health Organization. Environmental Noise Guidelines for the European Region. WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2018.
What it supports：Thresholds for environmental noise exposure and its health effects.
Every metric on this page is a reference index for observing your own trends. It is not medical advice and cannot replace a professional diagnosis. If you have health concerns, consult a qualified clinician.
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