In today’s world, you can listen to anything you want with just a few swipes and clicks. You can even enjoy high-fidelity sound in noisy, crowded places without anyone else hearing what you’re listening to. While this is all pretty amazing, it does have risks.
The experts at the Georgia Hearing Center at ENT of Athens want you to know that listening to music for too long at a volume too loud can cause lasting damage to your hearing.
How You Hear
Within the inner ears are tiny hair cells called stereocilia. These hair cells are responsible for converting soundwaves into electrical energy that the brain interprets as sound. When dangerously loud sounds pass through the ears, it can damage or destroy these hair cells, and once damaged, they do not regrow. The result is permanent sensorineural hearing loss.
How Loud Is Too Loud?
Any sound over 85 dB can cause permanent hearing damage over time. For reference, this is about the volume of passing highway traffic or a busy café. For sounds at this volume, it takes about eight hours of exposure to cause damage.
Headphones max out around 105 dB, which causes damage in as little as 15 minutes, and a rock concert can exceed 120 dB – enough to cause hearing loss instantaneously.
How to Practice Safe Listening
Whether listening to music through headphones or attending a concert, it’s important to practice safe listening so you can enjoy music for many years to come.
With Headphones
Follow the 60/60 rule, meaning you listen to music at no more than 60% of the device’s maximum volume for no more than 60 minutes at a time.
We also recommend investing in a pair of high-fidelity noise cancelling headphones, which provide a space barrier between the sound source and your ears, and don’t require you to turn up the volume as loud in order to hear over background noise.
At Concerts
Whether you play music or just sit back and enjoy it, it’s important to protect your ears.
One study of pop, rock and jazz musicians found that exposure to amplified music is related to hearing loss, and that more experience was linked to greater rates of tinnitus.
If you enjoy concerts, make sure to purchase a pair of musicians’ earmolds or earplugs from the Georgia Hearing Center before heading to 40 Watt Club. For more information about the risks of listening to loud music or to schedule an appointment for a hearing test, call the experts at the Georgia Hearing Center at ENT of Athens today.