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Headphones are a device that best demonstrates the modern human condition. Modern wireless headphones, AirPods, and earbuds permit you to link to a worldwide community of sounds while simultaneously giving you the ability to isolate yourself from everybody you see. They let you listen to music or watch Netflix or stay in tune to the news from anywhere. It’s pretty awesome! But the way we normally use them can also be a health hazard.
This is specifically true regarding your hearing health. And the World Health Organization confirms this also. Headphones are everywhere so this is especially troubling.
The Danger of Headphones And Earbuds
Frances enjoys Lizzo. And so she listens to Lizzo a lot. When she’s really jamming out she usually cranks up the volume (there’s a particular enjoyment in listening to your favorite tune at full power). She’s a considerate person, though, so Frances uses high-quality headphones to enjoy her tunes.
This kind of headphone usage is relatively common. Needless to say, headphones can be used for a lot of things but the overall concept is the same.
We use headphones because we want the listening experience to be somewhat private (so we are able to listen to whatever we want) and also so we’re not bothering the people around us (usually). But that’s where the danger lies: our ears are subjected to an intense and prolonged amount of noise. Hearing loss can be the result of the damage caused by this extended exposure. And hearing loss has been connected to a wide variety of other health-related ailments.
Keep Your Hearing Safe
Hearing health, according to healthcare experts, is a major part of your general health. Headphones are easy to get and that’s one reason why they create a health hazard.
What can you do about it is the real question? Researchers have put forward a few tangible measures we can all take to help make headphones a bit safer:
- Volume warnings are important: It’s likely that you listen to your music on your mobile device, and most mobile devices have built-in warnings when you start cranking up the volume a little too much. So if you use a mobile device to listen to music, you need to heed these warnings.
- Take breaks: It’s difficult not to crank up the volume when you’re listening to your favorite tunes. Most people can relate to that. But your hearing needs a little time to recuperate. So think about giving yourself a five-minute break from your headphones every now and again. The strategy is, each day give your ears some reduced volume time. Reducing your headphone time and watching volume levels will undoubtedly lessen damage.
- Age restrictions: These days, younger and younger kids are wearing headphones. And it’s likely a smart choice to minimize the amount of time younger people are spending with headphones. Hearing loss won’t develop as soon if you can stop some damage when you’re younger.
- Turn the volume down: 85dB is the maximum volume that you should listen to your headphones at as outlined by the World Health organization (to put it in context, the volume of a typical conversation is about 60dB). Most mobile devices, regrettably, don’t have a dB volume meter built in. Try to make sure that your volume is less than half or look into the output of your specific headphones.
If you’re at all concerned about your ear health, you may want to restrict the amount of time you spend on your headphones altogether.
I Don’t Really Need to be Concerned About my Hearing, Right?
You only have one set of ears so you shouldn’t ignore the impact of hearing damage. But your hearing can have a substantial impact on numerous other health factors, including your general mental health. Issues such as have been connected to hearing impairment.
So your general wellness is forever linked to the health of your hearing. And that means your headphones might be a health hazard, whether you’re listening to music or a baking podcast. So turn down the volume a little and do yourself a favor.
