 Cicadas can get as loud as a lawnmower or a motorcycle, but Fatima Hussain says they're unlikely to damage your hearing. She's a professor and neuroscientist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. There are all sorts of other things that are louder than cicadas that we take for granted. Think persistent noise from highways, airports, even hair salons. She says that kind of noise pollution over several hours can take a toll on our ears and our emotional health.