Are Headphones Dangerous For Your Hearing? How To Know When Loud Is Too Loud And You're Risking Hearing Loss
This question was originally published on Quora. Answer by Keck Medicine of USC.
Rocking out to the latest Bruno Mars song while you run on the treadmill or turning up that episode of Walking Dead on your next flight to combat inflight noise could be damaging your hearing. Here’s how to know when loud is too loud.
Whether you’re listening to music on your wireless headphones or binge watching a favorite TV show on your laptop with your earbuds in so you don’t disturb a roommate, if you have the volume cranked too loud, you can absolutely harm your hearing. In fact, 1 in 5 teens have some form of hearing loss, according to the American Osteopathic Association, which is a 30 percent increase from the 1980s and 1990s. And, many experts suspect headphones and earbuds may be largely to blame for the increase in noise-induced hearing loss.
What Causes Noise-Induced Hearing Loss?
Listening to something too loudly for too long causes noise-induced hearing loss. An iPhone or other smartphone can produce sounds up to 120 decibels. That’s equivalent to a rock concert or nightclub and louder than a motorcycle revving or traffic on a busy street.
A sure sign that your hearing ability is temporarily damaged is ringing in your ears when you take the headphones off, or if the world around you sounds “muffled” when you remove your listening device. However, even if you don’t have any immediate after effects, you may still be doing damage to your hearing.
Don’t Hang Up Your Headphones
You don’t have to give up listening to music or watching movies on your headphones or earbuds all together. Just make sure you don’t turn up your sound more than 60 percent maximum volume. Not sure what 60 percent is? The general rule of thumb is that you should be able to hear conversations going on around you even with your earbuds in and music on.
You should also limit the time you use your headphones to no more than 60 minutes. Need a handy way to remember the guidelines? It’s called the 60-60 rule (60 percent max volume for no more than 60 minutes).
Old style headphones that cover your ear are considered to be safer for your hearing than earbuds that pipe sounds directly into your eardrums. These old school headphones are also better at drowning out background noise, which means you can turn the volume down and still not be disturbed by conversations going on around you.
What if the Damage is Done?
Immediately after you crank your headphones too loudly for too long (maybe you fell asleep on a flight?) or after a night out at a club or that Drake concert, try to give your ears a 24-hour “noise diet”, where you avoid loud sounds as much as possible. This will give them time to recover and quell the ringing in your ears.
Unfortunately, once it occurs, noise-induced hearing loss is irreversible. You’ll be looking at a lifetime of hearing aids or implants, so turn down the volume now to protect your hearing.
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