TURN IT DOWN!
Hearing...one of the most critical senses and abilities humans possess, without it communication would be difficult and life on a whole. But what if one of our most hourly, daily or weekly habits was lessening our ability to hear while this sense was in use?
Millions of people walk around listening to their favorite artist(s), bands, instrumentals, or speech or lecture, at the highest volumes, trying to block out the auditory distractions in their surroundings, and not thinking for a minute of the consequences ahead.
These personal hearing devices come in various colors, designs, sizes; by different brands, and give us the luxury of listening to whatever we select on our mobile devices and other devices.
Years ago many people could have enjoyed the rustle of the wind through the trees, the drip of a rain drop, but now many people do not experience this sound in as early as their 20s. This level of hearing loss has been found to be attributed by the invention of Ear buds. More and more teenagers have loss their ability of high-pitched hearing due to their love of loud music.
Ear buds are undoubtedly more destructive than headphones although the maximum volume of headphones is 110 decibels. A common misconception is the bigger the headphones the worse the damage, but the opposite is true. The smaller the ear bud, the more dangerous it is (example the ones that come with iPhone/iPod devices). While headphones are placed over the ears, earphones are placed directly in the ear canal- direct and faster damage.
Decibels are the unit used to measure the level of sound.
Music devices produce 115 decibels of sound, ear buds allowed 5 decibels (120 decibels) more while 85 decibels is the level at which hearing loss begins. Power tools- 98 decibels, Lawn mowers 107 decibels, a jet taking off 100 feet away- 140 decibels.
To understand how loud earphones are consider this, a rock concert usually measures to 110-120 decibels. Placing an ear bud in ones ear gives the exact experience of a rock concert, inside your ear.
Hearing occurs when the sound reaches our ear the fragile hair cells inside the cochlea convert it into vibrations. If the sound waves are too strong they cause the cells to wither but if the sound occurs for about an hour (briefly) the cells can recover, and if it is exceptionally strong (well over 85 decibels) and lasts longer over many occurrences, they die and hearing loss becomes irreversible.
To prevent or avoid this damage it is advised that when listening to music via an ear phone or head phone, do so at a low to mid volume and never go past two hours daily.
Sincerely,
You-know-who
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