by Annikka Woods

Created on: November 22, 2008

I have seen the effects of continual use of headphones can do to someone. My husband has lost 15% of his hearing due to excessive use of headphones to play his music over the last ten years. He likes it loud, he says, so he can feel the music as well as hear it. Now he can't hear certain sounds, and has to have the volume on the TV up louder than is comfortable for the rest of us because he can't hear what's being said.

In an article by Vivek Kemp for the Columbia News Service, a student gets her ears checked for hearing loss. There's no significant hearing loss...yet. According to this article, the decibel range that is safe for a human's ears is under 85 decibels. The article also goes on to give us an idea of what exactly 85 decibels is: "a flushing toilet ranges from 75 to 85 decibels, a crying baby 110, a popping balloon 157. Personal stereo systems with headphones can produce sounds as loud as 120 decibels." The student admits to blasting her MP3 player up to 80%, which is around 96 decibels. Over time, this will produce significant hearing loss, if she continues to listen to the music as loudly as she does.

Hearing loss is a painless and progressive problem that people don't really pay all that much attention to. They just turn up the volume even more, which perpetuates the issue causing the hearing loss in the first place. Sound is registered in our ear as a series of vibrations that impact the ear drum, which are then transmitted to the three tiny bones in our ear. These vibrations are sent to the brain, where they are perceived as music, dialogue, a toilet flushing, a car horn beeping, whatever the original sound was. As a person's ability to hear is diminished due to damage to the ear drum and these tiny bones, the vibrations that reach the brain aren't as likely to be recognized as quickly or as easily.

There are several new styles of ear phones and ear buds being developed right now that are designed to help people turn their music down. There are ear buds being developed that are even smaller than the ones for the Ipod that will fit into your ears, allowing you to listen to your music at a much lower volume and still get the same effect. There are ear phones on the market today that block out ambient sounds and allow you to hear your music much clearer, thus encouraging people to keep the volume set at a lower number. A report in 4Hearing Loss News and Reviews actually gives us information on a set of headphones for parents who are concerned that their kids are listening to their music at too great of a decibel range. Green light means it's good, red light means it's in the danger zone.

What can be done to prevent the damage? Well, my first piece of advice is the same one I keep giving my husband: turn the volume down.

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