Headphones are seemingly everywhere. People listen to music in the park, podcasts while grocery shopping or even just white noise to drown out distracting background sounds. Unfortunately, when you play audio at a high volume, you’re putting yourself at risk of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL).
NIHL affects approximately 5% of the world’s population, making it the second most common cause of inner ear hearing loss, after age-related hearing loss. NIHL is also not isolated to older people. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 1.1 billion teenagers and young adults are at risk of developing hearing loss due to the use of personal audio devices like smartphones, as well as exposure to loud entertainment venues such as nightclubs and bars.
Below, we’ll look at why headphones are dangerous and how you can minimize your risk of damage.
What Are the Different Types of Headphones?
Headphones, earplugs and other audio devices are a $10 billion industry. There are five categories of consumer audio devices:
- Over-ear headphones: Offer the greatest noise isolation, allowing the wearer to lower the volume without reducing the quality of the audio
- On-ear headphones: Sit on the ears, reducing the effect of noise isolation and potentially leading to increased audio volume
- In-ear headphones: Fit snugly inside the ear canal and deliver direct, often intense sound. Some in-ear headphones offer noise cancellation, while others allow more sound leakage and may promote higher listening volumes
- Earbuds: Sit just outside the ear canal, limiting noise isolation and resulting in high, unsafe volumes
- Bone-conduction headphones: Rest behind the ear or on the cheekbones and bypass the eardrum to send sound to the inner ear
Each type of headphone affects your hearing in different ways and knowing how to use each one safely is crucial for protecting your ears.
How Loud and How Long Can I Listen Through My Headphones?
Noise doesn’t have to be piercing or painful to harm your hearing. Often, people raise the volume of their audio higher than is safe without even realizing it. It’s important to remember that it’s not just how loud your audio is, but how long you listen to it.
The louder a sound is, the less time you can listen to it without damaging your ears. For example, you can listen to sound at 80 decibels (dB), about the volume of a doorbell, for 40 hours a week without damage. If you raise that volume to 100 dB, about the volume of a hair dryer, you can only listen safely for 20 minutes.
According to a 2018 study, music through your smartphone can reach up to 113.1 dB, depending on the brand. Your chance of reaching that volume increases based on your environment and the type of headphones you use. If you’re in a crowded place and wearing earbuds, you can easily raise the volume to unsafe levels in an attempt to drown out the background noise.
Adolescents who wear earphones in a noisy environment are at a 4.5 times higher risk of hearing loss than those who don’t use earphones. That doesn’t mean you have to stop listening to music, but choosing the right headphones and practicing safe listening practices like lowering the volume or taking breaks is crucial in preventing permanent hearing loss.
What Are the Signs of Hearing Loss?
NIHL doesn’t always happen all at once, making the early signs easy to brush off or miss entirely. A few signs to watch out for include:
- Tinnitus: The presence of a ringing or buzzing sound in the ears with no identifiable external source
- Trouble hearing speech in noisy environments: Hearing loss tends to affect certain sounds, often consonants, first. Difficulty hearing “f”, “t” and “s” is common and will make it more challenging to comprehend speech in environments with competing sounds
- Muffled noise: Sounds may seem muffled, as if you’re hearing them through a wall or from a greater distance
These signs will likely start small and grow over time. In many cases, your loved ones will notice your hearing loss first.
How Does Hearing Work?
Hearing happens almost instantly, but sound actually goes on a long journey through the ear:
- The outer ear collects sound waves and funnels them into the ear canal
- The sound waves hit the eardrum, causing it to vibrate
- Three small bones in the middle ear amplify and deliver the vibrations to your cochlea (a spiral organ in your inner ear)
- The vibrations stimulate tiny hair cells in the cochlea, which send messages along the auditory nerve to the brain
- The brain interprets the messages as sound
Loud noise can damage hearing by overstressing those tiny hair cells, causing them to bend or die. The cells don’t regenerate, so any damage is permanent.
What’s the Long-Term Impact of Hearing Loss?
The communication challenges caused by hearing loss can impact your personal and professional relationships. You may begin to withdraw socially, which can contribute to feelings of inadequacy, anxiety, depression or isolation. Older adults may also experience a lack of independence.
Hearing loss in children can interfere with social and speech development and negatively impact academic performance.
In addition to mental and social implications, studies show that hearing loss also puts you at a 51% greater cross-sectional odds of falls.
Because the long-term side effects of hearing loss are wide-ranging, early and active prevention is crucial.
How Can I Protect My Hearing While Still Listening to My Music?
When you’re listening to music, employ the 60/60 rule. Keep your device’s volume at 60% and take listening breaks every 60 minutes. This method will prevent music from overburdening your hearing system.
Choosing the right headphones is also crucial. Noise-canceling, over-ear headphones will help you maintain a low volume without sacrificing sound quality. Open-back headphones, which allow air to flow through the ear cups, are another excellent option.
You can also adjust your notification settings. Your phone may send alerts to your Bluetooth® headphones when you get texts or calls. Adjust your notification settings to remove that added noise.
How Do I Choose the Best Headphones?
Choosing the right headphones is crucial to protecting your hearing for the long run. Modern headphones offer helpful safety features, including:
- Volume caps: Headphones with pre-installed volume caps are an excellent gift for children who may otherwise exceed safe limits
- Noise cancellation: Allows the listener to lower their audio without sacrificing clarity
You should also consider the comfort and fit. Over-ear and on-ear headphones are safer options than in-ear models. Look for headphones that form a good seal around the ear to prevent sound leakage.
Practice Hearing Safety. Every Time
Your hearing health is too precious to risk on unsafe listening habits. Remember, noise-related hearing damage is permanent, but it’s also highly preventable. Purchase a safe pair of headphones and practice the 60/60 rule for better hearing health now and in the years to come.
If you wear headphones frequently or it has been a few years since your last hearing test, please contact us at Lifestyle Hearing of Utah to schedule a hearing test.