Bass dropping and “booty popping” tunes may be music to teens’ ears, but the devastating effects earphones can have on kids’ hearing can keep ears ringing long after the music stops.
Today, 1 in 5 teens has some form of hearing loss, a rate about 30 percent higher than it was in the 1980s and 1990s. Many experts believe this is partly due to the increased use of headphones, according to the American Osteopathic Association’s website.
With technology continuously expanding, some of the advancements made can actually move us backwards physically, as shown with the popular use of headphones.
“Most MP3 players today can produce sounds up to 120 decibels, equivalent to a sound level at a rock concert. At that level, hearing loss can occur after only about an hour and 15 minutes,” warns Dr. James E. Foy on American Osteopathic Association’s website.
Hearing loss is a sudden or gradual decrease in how well you can hear. It is one of the most common conditions affecting older and elderly adults, according to U.S. Department of Health and Services website. As it is already an issue going along with old age, when current day teens grow older, their hearing will be even worse.
Teenagers and young adults especially need to realize these risks and problems listening to loud music will have on the future of their hearing.
The small ear bud style headphones that users insert into their ears do not block outside sounds, so users tend to turn up the volume to mask outside noise, only to add the Decibels of the music to the other noises around them, warns Medline Plus’s website. As a general rule, if you wear headphones, the volume is too loud if a person standing near you can hear the music coming through the headphones.
The softest sound the ear can hear is 0 Decibels, normal talking is 40 Decibels to 60 Decibels, and headphones are 110 Decibels. The powerful sound coming from the headphones can be twice as loud as the average person speaking, causing definite damage to the ear drum and lingering effects as you age.
Some studies have even found that some people in their 20s have hearing loss more typical of 50 year olds, due to this kind of exposure, according to Medline Plus’s website. Although any form of loud music can cause damage to a person’s hearing, ear buds are more likely to cause hearing damage than headphones that sit over the ear, and they can also be up to 9 Decibels louder than over-the-ear headphones, according to American Osteopathic Association’s website.
Teenagers need to be aware of the problems headphones can and will cause, in order to protect their ears for the future of their listening experiences.