Will the typical headphones hurt my ears in the long run?

In reality the answer is yes, earphones can be very damaging for your ears. 

A team with the University of Leicester lately proved that sound louder than one hundred ten intensity cause harm to some particular sort nerve cell covering, which in return can cause tinnitus (basically a buzzing or whining within the ears – and here’s my opinion that it simply made things sound ‘a bit tinny’) and even temporary deafness in a few cases. 

Reported by medical medical news today.com, that reported on the University’s findings, the myelin sheath may be a kind of outside layer that covers the nerve cells that attach the ears with the brain. Any sound over 100 decibels begins to wear away this outside layer, meaning the indicators will finally stop getting to the brain. Given time, the myelin sheath will usually (but not at all times) cure itself and reform, resulting in the damage only being brief. Still, it’s something to think about. 

As for more lasting damage, well, the facts have been startling. Reported by TIME magazine’s Laura Blue,  

“Hearing loss is more common than ever before. About 16% of American adults have an impaired ability to hear speech, and more than 30% of Americans over age 20 — an estimated 55 million people — have lost some high-frequency hearing”. 

These shocking stats were proposed within the ‘Archives of Internal Medicine’ journal and firstly published in 2008. Following this publication, Blue interviewed Brian Fligor, who was, at the time, the director of diagnostic audiology at Children’s Hospital Boston. In the interview, Fligor stated, 

“If you’re using the earbuds that come with an iPod and you turn the volume up to about 90% of maximum and you listen a total of two hours a day, five days a week, our best estimates are that the people who have more sensitive ears will develop a rather significant degree of hearing loss — on the order of 40 decibels (dB). That means the quietest sounds audible are 40 dB loud. Now, this is high-pitched hearing loss, so a person can still hear sounds and understand most speech. The impact is going to be most clearly noted when the background-noise level goes up, when you have to focus on what someone is saying. Then it can really start to impair your ability to communicate”. 

Thus, the title now becomes, what can you do to lower the danger? 

Sam Costello of About.com suggests turning down the amount, which is reasonably evident, really. However, (s)he also suggests accessing the ‘volume control’ on your iPod or mp3 player and decreasing the highest volume setting (synch it to the pc for further such options), and also listening for shorter periods of time and switching from earbuds to ‘above the ear’ headset. Earbuds are the most hazardous headset type, in fact. 

Just for the record, the average Us iPod can create about a hundred and fifteen decibels, which is reminiscent of attending a fairly loud rock concert (although not only a Motorhead gig obviously – now that is a group which just about guarantees total deafness for at least a few days afterwards, trust me). 

However, the excellent news is that even if you’re inside the EU, your iPod is restricted to 100db highest output by law. Although you’re still at risk if you turn the volume all the way up and listen to all of it day long, that danger is considerably less on our side of the pond. 

Will the typical headphones hurt my ears in the long run?