Music is an important part of Aiden’s life. He listens to Spotify while at work, switches to Pandora while jogging, and he has a playlist for everything: gaming, cooking, gym time, and everything else. His headphones are just about always on, his life a totally soundtracked affair. But the very thing that Aiden loves, the loud, immersive music, may be contributing to irreversible harm to his hearing.
There are ways to listen to music that are healthy for your ears and ways that aren’t so safe. But the more hazardous listening option is often the one most of us choose.
How can listening to music lead to hearing loss?
As time passes, loud noises can lead to deterioration of your hearing abilities. Typically, we think of aging as the main cause of hearing loss, but more recent research is showing that hearing loss isn’t an inherent part of aging but is instead, the result of accumulated noise damage.
It also turns out that younger ears are especially vulnerable to noise-related damage (they’re still developing, after all). And yet, the long-term damage from high volume is more likely to be ignored by young adults. So there’s an epidemic of younger individuals with hearing loss thanks, in part, to high volume headphone use.
Is there a safe way to enjoy music?
Unrestricted max volume is obviously the “dangerous” way to listen to music. But merely turning down the volume is a safer way to listen. Here are a couple of basic guidelines:
- For adults: Keep the volume at less than 80dB and for no more than 40 hours per week..
- For teens and young children: You can still listen for 40 hours, but the volume should still be below 75dB.
About five hours and forty minutes a day will be about forty hours every week. Though that might seem like a while, it can seem to pass quite quickly. But we’re conditioned to monitor time our whole lives so most of us are rather good at it.
Monitoring volume is a little less user-friendly. On most smart devices, smartphones, and televisions, volume is not measured in decibels. Each device has its own arbitrary scale. It may be 1-100. Or it could be 1-10. You might not have any idea what the max volume is on your device, or how close to the max you are.
How can you keep tabs on the volume of your tunes?
There are a few non-intrusive, easy ways to determine just how loud the volume on your music really is, because it’s not all that easy for us to contemplate what 80dB sounds like. Differentiating 75 from, let’s say, 80 decibels is even more perplexing.
So utilizing one of the many noise free monitoring apps is greatly suggested. These apps, widely available for both iPhone and Android devices, will give you real-time readouts on the noises around you. In this way, you can make real-time alterations while monitoring your real dB level. Your smartphone will, with the correct settings, inform you when the volume goes too high.
The volume of a garbage disposal
Typically, 80 dB is about as loud as your garbage disposal or your dishwasher. So, it’s loud, but it’s not too loud. It’s a significant observation because 80dB is about as loud as your ears can take without damage.
So you’ll want to be more mindful of those times at which you’re moving beyond that volume threshold. And minimize your exposure if you do listen to music over 80dB. Perhaps listen to your favorite song at full volume instead of the entire album.
Listening to music at a loud volume can and will cause you to have hearing issues over the long term. Hearing loss and tinnitus can be the outcome. Your decision making will be more informed the more aware you are of when you’re entering the danger zone. And safer listening will hopefully be part of those decisions.
Still have questions about safe listening? Give us a call to go over more options.