ear phones and ear damage
I
did a research in college back in 2007 about the effects of noise on
the ear drum and i cannot believe that today i am actually using ear
phones with the maximum volume in my ears and i know for a fact that it
is not good. Although many people like to turn their headphones up as
loud as they
can after having a bad day or to get their mind off things bothering
them, experts from Universities in Jamaica and abroad have shown
evidence that turning the volume on your headphones up too
high can damage the coating of nerve cells, eventually causing temporary
deafness. According to the researchers, the noise levels similar to
those of jet
levels can be heard on earphones or headphones on personal music players
if they are turned up loud enough. The headphone volume often has to
compete with the background noise,
especially in loud places such as subway stations, aircraft, and large
crowds. Extended periods of exposure to high sound pressure levels
created by headphones at high volume settings may be damaging
however, one hearing expert found that "fewer than 5% of users select
volume levels and listen frequently enough to risk hearing loss.
Some manufacturers of portable music devices have attempted to
introduce safety circuitry that limited output volume or warned the user
when dangerous volume was being used, but the concept has been rejected
by most of the buying public, which favors the personal choice of high
volume.
What are the signs of hearing loss?
The type of hearing loss due to headphone use is typically gradual, cumulative and without obvious warning signs. A hearing test and a medical examination are the only way to truly diagnose hearing damage.
These are some signs
- Ringing, roaring, hissing or buzzing in the ear
- Difficulty understanding speech in noisy places or places with poor acoustics
- Muffled sounds and a feeling that your ear is plugged
- Listening to the TV or radio at a higher volume than in the pastfor now its all fun to hear the music we love very loud in our ears but trust me its not worth the risk.