Listen Music Wear Headset Damage Ears

News Health Articles - Listen Music Wear Headset Damage Ears. Loud music has been known to cause hearing loss in teens in the 1960s and the 1970s. But this time, an MP3 player can also aggravate the disorder in subsequent generations.

Devices that sing music directly through the ear canal allows the wearer to listen to songs without having bothered by rumbling train or airplane engine hum. Because thousands of songs can be played for hours, users tend to listen continuously for hours at a time.



Damage to hearing caused by high volume continuously via an MP3 player. Even at the level that seems reasonable, the use of a headset can damage delicate hair cells in the inner ear that functions transmit sound impulses to the brain.

"Research has shown that people exposed to noise to 85 decibels for eight hours tend to have a hearing loss. While all the music players we studied produce sound levels over 85 decibels," says Brian Fligor, ScD from Children's Hospital in Boston.

"The sound of lawn mowers produce about 80-85 decibels. If iPod generate noise above 20 decibels, then the range is 100-105 decibels. At this level, the device should be used no more than 8-15 minutes," said Fligor.

But like millions of other iPod owners, users are listening to a headset for a few hours a day and unwittingly harm their hearing. Thus, limiting the volume of MP3 players may seem like an obvious solution.

France and other European countries have made rules that limit the volume of iPods and other devices that do not produce noise over 100 decibels. Unfortunately, the old usage also affects unregulated. In addition, immediately after the European countries limit the volume of iPods, web sites started providing detailed instructions on how to outsmart that provision.

Mary Florentine, an expert audiologist at Northeastern University suspect that some young people have what he called interference dependence on loud music.

"I asked some teenagers why they continue to listen to loud music despite knowing it damages hearing. They say that they can not stop listening," said Florentine as reported by cbsnews.com, Thursday (12/29/2011).

Many people who still deny the dangers of listening to loud music because the early symptoms tend to appear gradually. Hearing loss is increased before it was realized that the disorder has become more serious. Hearing loss is also more common with age.

An article in the journal Pediatrics estimates that 12.5 percent of children aged 6-19 years in the United States, or about 5.2 million people have impaired hearing.

"Our research shows that 16 percent of children aged 6-19 years had experienced early signs of hearing loss caused by loud noise," said William Martin, PhD, of Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, United States.