Using Headphones? You Could Be Harming Yourself
The Hidden Danger Of Enjoying Your Music
Dr. Michael Dahlke of ENT Associates tells us that hearing loss from listening to very loud music through headphones, can be far worse in children than in adults. The scary part is that most children typically turn up the volume anyway. I know I did!
With the increasing use of smartphones and the ease of downloading their favorite songs, today’s young people are putting themselves at risk every time they listen to music! more so if they are using headphones or inner ear headphones.
Before you plug headphones into your iPod, think twice about it. You could be affecting your hearing for years to come. It all comes down to how loud you’re playing those tunes. And the younger you are the worse it can be.
“We have seen an increase in the incidents of hearing loss in younger people…teenagers and even younger,” says Dr. Michael Dahlke, of ENT Associates. “You have a smaller volume for that sound pressure and therefore it can be worse in children than in adults.”
On a weekly basis he sees a number of noise induced hearing loss. Tinnitus, or ringing in the ears caused by loud noises, can strike at a young age and haunt you forever….
More at SPECIAL REPORT: Think Twice Before You Plug in Headphones
Chronic loss of hearing is now more common than ever, and affects 10 million adults and 5.2 million children in the United States. There is no known cure for tinnitus (or ringing in the ears), the most common hearing loss disorder, and it is becoming ever more frequent in our society due to the rise of environmental noise….
More at The health risks of noise pollution – The Imperfect Parent
My advice would be to carefully check the output levels of any headphones you get for your chlidren. Make sure they are awar of the dangers of listening at high levels and see if there is a way to actually restrict the loudness settings. Many headphones these days have these settings.
After who wants a child to start suffering with tinnitus at a very young age when it can easily be avoided.
Hearing Experts Warn About The Consquences Of Loud Noise
Hearing Experts In Education Drive
In a highly commendable drive to educate the public about the dangers of being exposed to loud music and noises, doctors from the Royal Berkshire Hospital in England have actuallutaken to the streets in an effort to warn the general public about the dangers posed simply by listening to their MP3 devices.
They got a really good response from the public using a unique method wherby participants would wear a headset which would also be connected to a dummy head which would then measure the volume at which the person normally set their volume levels to.
They had some quite startling results as the article below clearly illustrates! It seems most people simply don't care if they ended up with tinnitus!
The audiologists teamed up with national charity Action on Hearing Loss to warn people of the risk of developing tinnitus, a ringing in the ears, or losing their hearing completely as a result of listening to loud music through their headphones.
They stopped passers-by in Broad Street and outside Reading Station on Tuesday, April 3 to see if they were listening to their MP3 players at a potentially dangerous volume and advised how to prevent hearing problems later in life.
According to the charity, anything louder than 80 decibels causes damage.
Participants were asked to wear an earphone connected to the dummy head and set the volume to a level they would usually listen to.
If the light on the dummy went red, they knew they needed to turn it down.
Dr Laura Booth, principal clinical scientist at RBH, said: “Historically our audiology services have managed the hearing loss of the elderly but we’ve decided we need to start being more proactive helping the younger generation protect their hearing.
“A lot of people have come out with a red result which means they are using their MP3s too loud.
“The majority say they won’t make any changes which is quite interesting but if they experience tinnitus, they would worry.
“My feeling is that because hearing loss isn’t happening to them now they won’t worry until it’s happened.”
With the team was Marc Nicholson, 31, who DJs in bars and clubs around Reading.
He suffers with tinnitus, or a “high pitch noise” as he referred to it, as a result of listening to loud music through headphones.
He said: “I have listened to MP3 players for most of my life.
“When I was younger they thought the ringing would go away and was just one of those things.
“One day I went to bed with the ringing and it has been there ever since – it’s chronic.
“I’m coping fine but for about a year I was really depressed. The worst thing is I have done it to myself.”
He said the awareness event was “fantastic because people don’t know what’s a safe level to listen to their MP3. The problem is they don’t realise what a serious issue it is.”
For more information about tinnitus and hearing loss, visitwww.actiononhearingloss.org.uk
It turns out the ringing in your ears is chronic tinnitus. Now that you have a diagnosis, you may be wondering what your next step should be. Rest assured that there are options for those who suffer from tinnitus.
More Tinnitus News
- Tinnitus Treatment: Clinical Protocols [Hardcover]
- NHS handling of tinnitus patient ''shameful'' – Public Service
- Coroner slams delays over tinnitus sufferer who stabbed himself to death – Telegraph.co.uk
- Internet-based therapy reduces tinnitus – UPI.com
Image by Derrick Coetzee via Flickr
Human Hearing Protection Advice
The incidence of acquired hearing impairment apparently increases by the day. One common cause of hearing impairment in adults is frequent loud noise exposure. Loud noise destroys the delicate cells in the cochlea that transmit signals to the auditory nerve. This results in irreversible hearing loss and other kinds of ear problems like the Meniere’s disease.
This is why one of the most important ways to preserve human hearing is through avoidance of loud noise. Unfortunately, a lot of people do not realize that many noises they expose themselves to are loud enough to cause damage to their delicate ears.
If you have to strain yourself just to be heard by someone in a noisy environment, the noise levels there are probably loud enough to put your ears at risk. Reduce the number of hours you spend at noisy clubs or pubs. At the same time, refrain from going to rock concert venues. If you must, at least do not choose the front row of seats.
Loud music has been blamed for a lot of cases of hearing impairment. Make sure that music players at home and even those you carry around with you are adjusted to emit moderate volumes of sound. Never play music at maximum volumes because the sound often goes beyond the safe limit for human ears. By doing these simple steps, you do not necessarily have to go through the ordeal of looking for a cure for tinnitus, hearing loss, Meniere’s disease or for all the other kinds of unwanted ear conditions.
If your job requires you to stay inside noise-laden room, wear earplugs.
How to Prevent High Frequency Hearing Loss
Sensorineural hearing loss is usually characterized by loss of hearing at the high frequencies. It occurs because of nerve damage. It can also bring about ringing in the ears. The usual cause of this type of hearing loss in adults is noise. Excessive noise destroys the hair cells in the cochlea, causing permanent damage. High frequency hearing loss characterizes SNHL in most cases. People who no longer hear high frequencies will suffer an inadequacy in their lives because they can’t hear the world normally.
Prevention requires, first, education. A lot of people seemed to have forgotten the basic ways to prevent hearing loss. The most important reminder is to stay away from loud noise to avoid damage to the inner ears. Avoiding loud music and keeping volumes of iPods and portable music players within moderate levels. Wearing earplugs should be imperative for people who are frequently and inevitably exposed to loud sound. Earplugs preclude hearing damage such as ears ringing by lowering the sound input to the ears.
Prevent Hearing Disorder Through These Tips
The best way to prevent hearing disorder is by staying away from loud noise. The most common cause of hearing loss is repeated exposure to loud noises, such as car horns, machinery noise, and loud music. People who work in noisy places are highly prone to hearing loss. At the same time, musicians are also likely to get hearing impairment. Many people suffering from sensorineural hearing loss are band members and musical conductors, who are frequently exposed to high decibel sound. When this happens, they may not only have to look for a relief for hearing loss but also other cures like a ringing ears treatment to treat the other hearing problems that they may have acquired.
Another way to keep your ears safe is to stop putting anything in your ears. Poking your ears is also harmful in a few ways. First, you can scratch your ears. Second, you can push your earwax deep. Third, you can puncture your eardrum. Using Q-tips to clean the ears is not recommended. In fact, removing the earwax is never recommended by specialists. The ears have their own efficient way of cleaning themselves up.
Treat ear infections right away. Earache should warrant you to go to your doctor. Don’t wait until a nasty goo comes out of your ears. Ear infections can be treated successfully using antibiotics, but seek your doctor’s recommendation. Such infections can worsen and cause conductive hearing loss when left untreated.
Most people often wait for such a time when they have go to the doctor to get a treatment for their ear problem such as a tinnitus cure. A useful advice ignored by many people is to go to your otolaryngologist for a regular hearing assessment. This is one thing you must always consider.
