Aiden loves music. While he’s out jogging, he listens to Pandora, while working it’s Spotify, and he has a playlist for all his activities: gaming, gym time, cooking, and everything else. Everything in his life has a soundtrack and it’s playing on his headphones. But irreversible hearing damage might be happening as a result of the very loud immersive music he enjoys.
There are ways to listen to music that are safe for your ears and ways that aren’t so safe. But the more dangerous listening option is usually the one most of us use.
How can listening to music result in hearing loss?
Your ability to hear can be compromised over time by exposure to loud noise. Typically, we think of aging as the primary cause of hearing loss, but more and more research reveals that it’s actually the accumulation of noise-induced damage that is the issue here and not anything intrinsic to the aging process.
Younger ears which are still developing are, as it turns out, more vulnerable to noise-related damage. And yet, younger adults are more likely to be dismissive of the long-term dangers of high volume. So because of extensive high volume headphone usage, there has become an epidemic of hearing loss in young people.
Is there a safe way to listen to music?
It’s obviously dangerous to listen to music at max volume. But there is a safer way to listen to your tunes, and it usually involves turning down the volume. The general guidelines for safe volumes are:
- For adults: Keep the volume at no more than 80dB and for no more than 40 hours per week..
- For teens and young children: You can still listen for 40 hours, but the volume should still be below 75dB.
About five hours and forty minutes per day will be about forty hours every week. That seems like a lot, but it can go by fairly quickly. But we’re taught to keep track of time our entire lives so most of us are pretty good at it.
Monitoring volume is a little less user-friendly. On most smart devices, computers, and TVs, volume isn’t calculated in decibels. It’s measured on some arbitrary scale. Perhaps it’s 1-100. Or it may be 1-10. You might not have any idea 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, simple ways to determine just how loud the volume on your music really is, because it’s not all that easy for us to contemplate exactly what 80dB sounds like. It’s even more difficult to determine the difference between 80 and 75dB.
That’s why it’s highly recommended you use one of many free noise monitoring apps. These apps, widely available for both iPhone and Android devices, will provide you with8 real-time readouts on the noises around you. That way you can monitor the dB level of your music in real-time and make adjustments. Your smartphone will, with the correct settings, let you know when the volume goes too high.
As loud as a garbage disposal
Generally speaking, 80 dB is about as noisy as your garbage disposal or your dishwasher. So, it’s loud, but it’s not too loud. Your ears will start to take damage at volumes higher than this threshold so it’s a significant observation.
So you’ll want to be extra mindful of those times at which you’re going beyond that volume threshold. And minimize your exposure if you do listen to music over 80dB. Perhaps listen to your favorite song at max volume instead of the entire album.
Listening to music at a higher volume can and will cause you to have hearing issues over the long run. You can develop hearing loss and tinnitus. Your decision making will be more educated the more aware you are of when you’re going into the danger zone. And ideally, those decisions lean towards safer listening.
Still have questions about safe listening? Contact us to explore more options.
