Aiden enjoys music. While he’s out running, he listens to Pandora, while working it’s Spotify, and he has a playlist for everything he does: cardio, cooking, gaming, you name it. His entire life has a soundtrack and it’s playing on his headphones. But irreversible hearing damage may be happening due to the very loud immersive music he loves.
There are ways to enjoy music that are safe for your ears and ways that aren’t so safe. But the more hazardous listening option is frequently the one most of us choose.
How can listening to music lead to hearing loss?
As time passes, loud noises can lead to degeneration of your hearing abilities. Typically, we think of aging as the primary cause of hearing loss, but more and more research suggests that it’s really the accumulation of noise-induced damage that is the problem here and not anything inherent in the aging process.
Younger ears which are still growing are, as it turns out, more susceptible to noise-induced damage. And yet, young adults are more likely to be dismissive of the long-term hazards of high volume. So there’s an epidemic of younger people with hearing loss thanks, in part, to high volume headphone use.
Is there a safe way to enjoy music?
It’s obviously dangerous to enjoy music on max volume. But merely turning down the volume is a less dangerous way to listen. The general recommendations for safe volumes are:
- For adults: 40 hours or less of weekly listening on a device and keep the volume below 80dB.
- For teens and young children: You can still listen for 40 hours, but keep the volume level below 75dB.
Forty hours every week translates into roughly five hours and forty minutes a day. That may seem like a lot, but it can go by fairly quickly. But we’re taught to monitor time our entire lives so most of us are rather good at it.
Monitoring volume is a little less intuitive. On most smart devices, smartphones, and televisions, volume isn’t calculated in decibels. It’s calculated on some arbitrary scale. It could be 1-100. Or it could be 1-10. You might not have a clue how close to max volume you are or even what max volume on your device is.
How can you keep tabs on the volume of your tunes?
There are some non-intrusive, easy ways to determine just how loud the volume on your music actually is, because it’s not very easy for us to conceptualize what 80dB sounds like. It’s even more difficult to understand the difference between 80 and 75dB.
So utilizing one of the numerous noise free monitoring apps is highly advisable. These apps, widely available for both iPhone and Android devices, will provide you with8 real-time readouts on the noises surrounding you. That way you can monitor the dB level of your music in real-time and make alterations. Or, while listening to music, you can also adjust your configurations in your smartphone which will automatically tell you that your volume is too loud.
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 that loud. Your ears will begin to take damage at volumes above this threshold so it’s an important observation.
So pay close attention and try to stay away from noise above this volume. And limit your exposure if you do listen to music over 80dB. Maybe limit loud listening to a song rather than an album.
Over time, loud listening will cause hearing problems. Hearing loss and tinnitus can be the consequence. Your decision making will be more educated the more mindful you are of when you’re entering the danger zone. And ideally, those decisions lean towards safer listening.
Still have questions about keeping your ears safe? Call us to go over more options.
