How To Listen To Music Without Destroying Your Hearing
Hearing
loss is practically an epidemic among young people in middle- and high-income
countries -- and it's getting worse, not better. The World Health Organization said that 1.1 billion people
ages 12-35 listen to personal audio devices at "unsafe volumes,"
risking permanent hearing loss. Worse, people who experience hearing loss don't
always get the help they need fast enough, and they may not recognize that
their behavior is risky to begin with.
The
proliferation of smartphones, which provide easy access to music-listening apps
and often come packaged with earbuds, coincides with higher hearing-loss
statistics. There's basically no question that the two are related.
"Everyone's
got something in their ears these days. That constant exposure is definitely
causing an increase in hearing loss statistics," Dr. Diane Catalano, a
senior audiology clinician at Duke University Medical Center, told The
Huffington Post.
Anna
Gilmore Hall, executive director of the Hearing Loss Association of America,
concurred, adding that people are experiencing "severe hearing loss much
earlier."
Here
are a few simple things you can do to protect yourself from permanent,
noise-induced hearing loss:
Get Headphones That Fit
A whopping 86 percent of U.S. consumers age
25-34 owned smartphones in 2014, according to a recent Nielsen survey.
Smartphones were also in the pockets of 85 percent of millennials (age 18-24).
That's up from 80 percent and 77 percent, respectively, in 2013.
That's
a lot of phones. The problem is, the headphones that come with these devices
aren't designed to fit perfectly into your ears, which means they let in a lot
of ambient noise. People tend to crank up the volume on their devices to make
up for this, Catalano said.
It's
imperative that your headphones fit correctly, so you should test out a few
different kinds before buying.
Earbuds
should fit snuggly in your ears and isolate sound. The good ones come with a
few different tip sizes, which let you pick which size best fills your ear.
There's no such thing as "one size fits all." You can also get a
custom pair made that molds perfectly to your ears, but be very careful about
not pushing them in too far.
As
for over-ear headphones: They should cover your ears completely and block out
ambient noise.
Give Your Ears A Rest
The
World Health Organization recommends that young people limit themselves to one
hour of listening per day on devices like smartphones.
"You
shouldn't have exposure to 80 decibels for longer than 60 minutes," Hall
told HuffPost. "Give yourself a rest. Let your ears recover a little
bit."
For
reference, 80 decibels is equivalent to the sounds of city traffic or a garbage disposal.
After several hours, this decibel level can be damaging to your ears. Consider
that next time you're pumping music through your headphones.
Turn Your Smartphone Down
Smartphones
don't always do such a great job telling you if you're listening at perilously
loud volumes.
"There's
really no reason that any of these devices should go up as far as they
do," Catalano said.
On
iPhones, Catalano said not to go above two-thirds of the volume bar.
In
2013, the European Union mandated a volume limit on all personal audio devices -- including
smartphones -- capping them at 85 decibels. The rule meant that people playing
music apps like Spotify would have to bypass a warning to listen any louder.
There's
no such requirement in the United States, but many Android phones do include a
warning when you try to turn your volume to an unsafe level. iPhones let you
set a volume limit in the device's settings.
But
what good is a "no trespassing" sign next to an open door?
Get Earplugs
Even
when you're not listening to headphones, your hearing could still be damaged in
super-loud settings. Rock concerts, loud bars, sporting events, the subway,
traffic jams and construction sites are all risky environments. Consider
wearing earplugs to protect your ears if you know you're going to be somewhere
loud for a long period of time.
V-MODA, a premium headphone maker, produces a line of $20 earplugs called Faders VIP, which the company says will block out sound up to 20 decibels. They're made to look like high-end earbuds, so you won't look dopey walking down the street with them on. Like the best earbuds, they come with multiple tip sizes so you can make sure they fit correctly.
V-MODA, a premium headphone maker, produces a line of $20 earplugs called Faders VIP, which the company says will block out sound up to 20 decibels. They're made to look like high-end earbuds, so you won't look dopey walking down the street with them on. Like the best earbuds, they come with multiple tip sizes so you can make sure they fit correctly.
"I
had a hearing loss scare," Val Kolton, V-MODA's CEO, told HuffPost of his
decision to manufacture earplugs. Kolton was used to a life around loud music,
but his woes actually came from custom earplugs that pushed debris too far into
his ear, thus creating temporary hearing loss.
"I
had never had an ear wax problem, but it pushed it so far up that it was
creating a rock," Kolton said.
The
(gross, yet important) lesson: Never push anything that far into your ear.
Doing so can cause a variety of health problems, including hearing loss.
Get Screened
You
know not to listen to music too loud. You know to wear earplugs. Now you need
to make sure your ears stay healthy.
Catalano
and Hall both say people need to get screened for hearing loss from their
health care providers.
"It
should become something that's more thought about on the primary care
level," Hall said.
Adults
should try to get a hearing test every five or 10 years, according to Catalano.
And even then, Catalano said that many people find out they've got hearing
loss, but actually wait a few years for it to get worse before they actually do
something about it.
As
she put it to HuffPost: "The sooner we can get them assistance, the
better."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/06/music-hearing-loss_n_6755058.html?ir=Healthy%20Living&ncid=newsltushpmg00000003
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