Could Wearing Headphones Be Damaging Your Hearing
Headphone-related hearing loss isn’t a rare phenomenon that only happens to a small percentage of people. In fact, in 2022, a group of researchers working with the World Health Organization released a study looking at potential hearing loss among young people worldwide, resulting from loud concerts or events, and headphone use. Their findings were staggering.
About a quarter of young people, 24%, are listening to personal listening devices at a risky level; and about half, or 48%, were regularly attending loud entertainment venues. This estimates that over 1 billion individuals could be at risk for hearing loss from loud sound exposure.
Meaning, once again, that it’s not just about volume-but about sound dosage, or volume over time. Based on that research, the World Health Organization says, the upper limit of “safe” is 75 decibels.
Over the past decade or so, discussions over which headphones are the safest and riskiest for our ears have bloomed online. That’s led to common misconceptions, like that earbuds are the most dangerous, and bone-conducting or open-backed earphones are the safest. But, in the end, all that really matters is the volume being delivered to your ears.
There is evidence that shows that the background sound level will cause you to turn your volume higher in order to get your chosen listening level or your preferred listening level.
In other words, the kind of headphones you use doesn’t especially matter–with the exception of noise-canceling headphones, which can lead people to listening at lower, and therefore safer levels.
By Liz Tung, The Pulse