Take a walk on the street, we can see that most people are using their headphones either listening to music or making a phone call. Headphones first came out in the early 1900s. It started to become popular when tapes, CDs and Walkman came out. And nowadays, people use iphones, ipods to play their music loudly.
Scientists believe that, depending upon the type of sound, the pure force of its vibrations at high decibel levels can cause hearing loss. Recent studies also show that exposure to sounds at harmful decibel levels triggers the formation of molecules inside the ear that damage hair cells. (Noisyplanet). And there is no treatment for hearing damage because it is irreversible.
Using myself as an example, I know that I have worse hearing than in the past because I use earphones to play music a lot and I would play louder when I am in public areas that are noisy. When I take subways in Shanghai, it is pretty common that I can hear others’ music coming out from their earphones. “Hearing specialist David A. Schessel, MD, PhD, chief of our Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Division, tells parents: “If you can hear the music your child/teenager is playing through their headphones or earphones, it means the sound is too loud and can lead to permanent hearing loss.” (Stony Brook School of Medicine). The subway makes a loud noise so people usually turn up the volume when they take buses or subways. I turn up the volume as well in order that I can hear the lyrics clearly; however, loud sounds do harms to our ears. The louder the music, the shorter time that people can use their headphones. “As a rule of thumb, you should only use MP3 devices at levels up to 60% of maximum volume for a total of 60 minutes a day,” (American Osteopathic Association) It can cause people to become deaf earlier than normal. But how loud is defined as loud?
Here are some loudness/time facts to consider (the unit of measurement is decibel):
- At 95 dB, damage will occur after four hours of exposure per day.
- At 100 dB, damage will occur after two hours of exposure per day.
- At 105 dB, damage will occur after one hour of exposure per day.
- At 110 dB, damage will occur after 30 minutes of exposure per day.
- At 115 dB, damage will occur after 15 minutes of exposure per day.
- At 120-plus dB, damage occurs almost immediately.
I love the topic of your blog! In my opinion, it all comes down to listening in moderation and volume. Outside or places where there are noise present, making the volume louder is the why we are losing our hearing. Also, I feel that the type of music (songs bass heavy) we listen to can be a variable that contribute to the loss of hearing.
Thinking about it logically, in-ear headphones are definitely are harmful. Sound is energy. It produces waves that vibrate parts of the ear enabling us to hear. In-ear headphones basically inject all of that energy into the ear with no space for the sound waves to dissipate. At home, I loved listening to music with a bluetooth speaker, but in school, I have to use my headphones more often and I am concerned about the repercussions.
Oh no! This makes me worried! I always walk with my head phones in, and my music is always cranked up pretty loud. Your blog however could potentially save my hearing… so thank you. It was really interesting to actually hear the facts about the damage that headphones can cause, and now I will definitely lower my music. There is a kid who sits next to me in my english class and he blasts his music so loud. I will definitely give him the heads up tomorrow and make sure he is aware of the potential damages.
This blog post was super interesting. My mom always used to tell me not to listen to music with my earphones too loud, and now I know why! It makes sense that it could be harmful, as headphones are essentially mini speakers that you put into your ears. Just walking around Penn State, I see a ton of people using headphones while walking. I have also found that my ears adjust to the noise of the headphones, and after a few minutes I always end up turning them down.
Your blog post was extremely eye opening to me since for years I have been told that listening to my music very loudly can cause damage to my ears, but I always just seemed to disregard that. Now that I am walking long distances to class everyday I always make sure that I have my headphones with me, but now I realize that maybe I shouldn’t be listening to music for hours upon hours each day. Especially since I tend to listen to it very loudly. Its crazy that simple things like listening to a song here and there could potentially lead to permanent hearing loss. I really liked how you included the information regarding the loudness/ time facts for people to consider.
Hello, I really appreciate this piece of blog. I think it mentioned a part that use headphones actually can cause people to become a deaf. Think about it in the reality, how many time do we put headphones on and how loud the music is. According to a study by my friend who tested that how people can be affected by loud noises, our mood status could be unstable and we are more likely to be aggressive and anxiety while stressful as well. So it will be terrible that put headphones on all the time with loud music can cause hear loss!
This is a very interesting topic, since I often find myself being nagged by my mom whenever she can hear my music. After hearing what you concluded in this article and what my mom has been saying, It almost seems that in 30 years we are going to have a generation of near-deaf adults. My theory is that since so many people will have damage to their hearing, science will develop alongside and innovate new hearing repairing methods. Where we already are with hearing aids is quite impressive. Who knows in 40 years we might just be driving around in our flying cars listening to the stereo with our artificial ears.