If you think hearing loss only happens to seniors, you may be shocked to discover that today 1 out of every 5 teens has some degree of hearing loss in the United States. Additionally, the rate of hearing loss in teens is 30 percent higher than it was in the 1980s and 90s.
It should come as no surprise then that this has captured the notice of the World Health Organization, who in answer issued a statement cautioning us that 1.1 billion teens and young adults worldwide are at risk for hearing loss from harmful listening practices.
Those unsafe habits include going to loud sporting events and concerts without hearing protection, along with the unsafe use of headphones.
But it’s the use of headphones that could very well be the most significant threat.
Consider how frequently we all listen to music since it became transportable. We listen in the car, on the job, at the gym, and at home. We listen while out for a stroll and even while going to sleep. We can incorporate music into nearly every aspect of our lives.
That quantity of exposure—if you’re not careful—can gradually and quietly steal your hearing at a young age, leading to hearing aids down the road.
And given that no one’s prepared to eliminate music, we have to find other ways to safeguard our hearing. Fortunately, there are simple measures we can all adopt.
Here are three important safety guidelines you can make use of to protect your hearing without sacrificing your music.
1. Limit the Volume
Any sound louder than 85 decibels can trigger permanent hearing loss, but you don’t need to invest in a sound meter to measure the decibel output of your music.
Instead, a useful rule of thumb is to keep your music player volume at no more than 60 percent of the max volume. Any higher and you’ll most likely be above the 85-decibel limit.
In fact, at their loudest, MP3 music players can pump out more than 105 decibels. And given that the decibel scale, like the Richter scale, is logarithmic, 105 decibels is approximately 100 times as intense as 85.
An additional tip: normal conversation registers at about 60 decibels. Therefore, if when listening to music you have to raise your voice when conversing to someone, that’s a good sign that you should turn the volume down.
2. Limit Listening Time
Hearing damage is not only a function of volume; it’s also a function of time. The longer you expose your ears to loud sounds, the greater the injury can be.
Which brings us to the next general rule: the 60/60 rule. We previously recommended that you keep your MP3 player volume at 60 percent of its max volume. The other aspect is making sure you limit the listening time to under 60 minutes a day at this volume. And bear in mind that lower volumes can handle longer listening times.
Taking periodic rest breaks from the sound is also important, as 60 decibels uninterrupted for two hours can be far more damaging than four half-hour intervals dispersed throughout the day.
3. Pick the Appropriate Headphones
The reason most of us have difficulty keeping our MP3 player volume at under 60 percent of its maximum is due to background noise. As environmental noise increases, like in a busy fitness center, we have to compensate by increasing the music volume.
The remedy to this is the use of noise-cancelling headphones. If background noise is lessened, sound volume can be limited, and high-quality music can be enjoyed at lower volumes.
Low-quality earbuds, on the other hand, have the dual disadvantage of sitting closer to your eardrum and being incapable of controlling background noise. The quality of sound is lower as well, and coupled with the distracting external sound, increasing the volume is the only method to compensate.
The bottom line: it’s truly worth the money to spend money on a pair of high quality headphones, preferably ones that have noise-cancelling technology. That way, you can adhere to the 60/60 rule without sacrificing the quality of your music and, more significantly, your hearing down the road.