How To Take Care Of Your Ears And Use Headphones Wisely

Damage to your ears can be caused by headphones the same way as other loud noises do. It can result into what is referred as “noise-induced hearing loss”. The tiny hair cells in the inner ear which are the sensory receptors to hearing, get bend down too much or too severely when exposed to loud sounds from headphones over a period of time. If enough time is provided after listening to loud sounds these hair cells can recover, if not, it can result into permanent damage.

In some case, headphones need not even be extremely loud to cause damage to one’s ears. “Even listening to earbuds or headphones at a moderate volume can cause problems in your hearing over time. This is because the damage to ears are just not limited to the loudness of a noise, but also by the length of exposure as well. To give a comparison, attending a concert for long time in an open space for a long time can cause as much damage gunshot near ear or explosion. Thus, the duration of the exposure matters just as much as the volume,” says Dr Smita Nagaonkar, Consultant and section Coordinator, Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital, Mumbai.

New study shows that more than a 1 billion young people are at risk of hearing loss due to the excessive use of audio devices like headphones and earbuds.

Unfortunately, the type of hearing loss caused by over exposure to very loud noise is irreversible, making prevention paramount.

Symptoms

1. Ringing, roaring, hissing or buzzing in the ear.
2. Difficulty understanding speech in noisy places or places with poor acoustics.
3. Muffled sounds and a feeling that your ear is plugged.
4. Listening to the TV or radio at a higher volume than in the past.

A hearing test and a medical examination are the only way to truly diagnose hearing damage. Noise-induced hearing loss due to earbuds is 100% preventable if you don’t use them too long or too loudly.

Doctors recommend the 60%/60-minute rule: Listen to music or play a movie or video game at no more than 60% of the maximum volume. Limit the amount of time you spend with earbuds in your ears to 60 minutes.

Take appropriate breaks.

There is certain situation where you can’t avoid usage of headphone due to work requirements. However, we can minimize the damage by taking certain precautions.  Dr Nagaonkar, shares some tips:

• Use noise-cancelling headphones:

Majority of the headphones users uses headphones at a high volume to “escape” other background noises. One brilliant way to decrease the volume in order to protect the ears is to use headphones with noise-cancellation. These specialized devices which are becoming popular in the market blocks out external sounds, allowing us to enjoy our music at a lower volume without any disturbances from background noises. In addition to turning down the volume, one can also protect noise exposure.

1. Prefer headphones with noise cancellation
2. Ear buds with noise cancellation