We live in a world full of different sounds.
We like listening to rustling leaves, the
rain, birds singing.
But we don't realize how easy it is to lose
that.
We are surrounded by sounds and noises of
a modern world, from which we want to hide.
And headphones are here to help us, and have
become a fashion trend in our lives.
But our ears do not like this.
Do headphones damage our ears?
Let's figure it out.
Before we get started, let's find out the
history of headphones.
Rewind to a century ago.
In 1910, an American Nathaniel Baldwin invented
the first model of headphones in his kitchen,
for the US Navy.
These headphones were used for radio communication
only.
Later, in 1952, another American, John Koss
– the founder of KOSS Corporation - invented
the first stereo headphones for personal use.
As a result, headphones became widely used
in
everyday life.
27 years later, an engineer at Sony, Nobutoshi
Kihara, created a cassette player Walkman,
and on-ear headphones for his general director
Akio Morita, so that he could listen to operas
during air travel.
A little bit later, Sony invented the first
earbuds for greater comfort and mobility.
As a cassette only fits a small number of
songs, the company Apple released the iPod,
which can hold about 1,000 songs.
So, because of the pocket player the white
earbuds became
famous.
In 2008, a hip-hop singer and a producer Dr.
Dre releases his own headphones label – Monster
Beats.
These over-ear headphones also led the market
in popularity and the fashion
of headphones today.
Not only music lovers wear headphones.
They're also preferable to people who work
with music professionally.
Like our character Vyacheslav, pseudonymous
Slava Petrov.
He makes crowds happy through his profession
in music.
He is a DJ.
I both write and pick over music.
On average, I spend 9 hours a day wearing
headphones.
His concerts last from between 3 to 6 hours.
With a lifestyle like this, certainly hearing
loss will come.
At the moment, I have a hearing problem my
right ear.
Not much, but when I am listening to music,
it feels muffled.
Besides Sláva, many people with different
kinds of professions also live in a world
of music.
Obviously, an era of hearing loss is coming.
But what exactly is hearing loss?
A medical dictionary says that: “hearing
loss is any degree of impairment of the ability
to apprehend sound.”
There are three types of hearing loss, but
we are only interested in one – Sensorineural.
Sensorineural hearing loss is a disease that
can be congenital or acquired.
It is caused by loud noises, and could affect
workmen at loud construction sites or even
from just listening to music too loudly.
To be clearer, let's see how the human ear
perceives sound.
Sound waves enter the outer ear
canal, hit the eardrum and travel along the
ossicular chain to the inner ear.
Then sound is transmitted along the auditory
nerve to the brain via the cochlea.
The louder the sound, the higher the number
of decibels.
Here are some examples.
20 db — a clock ticking.
It is the lowest level for ears.
30 db — whispering.
A normal conversation reaches 50 db.
If you scream out, the noise level reaches
75 db.
The Moscow Metro is considered the loudest
in the world.
Precisely, it is 100 db.
Here is the threshold for pain.
The noise of a jackhammer can reach 130 db.
The limit for the ear is 140 db.
Fireworks and firecrackers can reach that
level of noise.
So, besides being a DJ, the most dangerous
noise occupations are: train drivers, factory
workers and builders.
Is it possible to get hearing back with conditions
like these?
Hearing restoration is possible in early stages,
where hearing gets down to 30, 40 or 50 decibels.
These are mild and moderate degrees of hearing
loss.
But returning hearing to its original condition
after severe damage is virtually impossible.
Loud music not only damages your hearing,
but also the whole human body.
A heightened level of noise can cause symptoms
such as: headaches, tiredness, sleep disturbances
and memory loss.
Hearing loss occurs gradually and imperceptibly.
People who have been able to see and hear
in the past that are suffering from hearing
loss struggle to adapt.
The person cannot perceive obtained information,
and they will become irritable.
Life changes because of their condition and
they start to look at life differently.
Let's find out what kind of headphones are
less dangerous for our health.
In-ear headphones are very close to the inner
ear, thus they contribute to the death of
inner ear hair cells.
Therefore, earbuds can cause progressive hearing
loss in the future.
These kinds of headphones are the most dangerous.
The next type is called On-ear headphones.
These headphones are worn on the ears but
don't entirely cover them.
That's why they are safer to use than earbuds.
But because of they just cover ears; you must
increase the volume of the player to muffle
background noises.
It is bad for your ears when you do this.
And finally, over-the-ear headphones.
Also called“Full size headphones”.
These completely surround the ear, creating
a vacuum that doesn't let background noise
reach your ear.
This type of headphone is the safest for listening
to music.
Slava is going to check the condition of his
ears.
So, your outer-ear canal is clean.
You also have no inflammation of the eardrum.
Nevertheless, the problem that brought you
here will remain.
To understand how much your hearing is lost,
we must conduct an audiometric hearing test.
This test is also called an audiogram.
It shows the frequency at which Slava's hearing
gets worse.
Using special headphones, the patient receives
sounds at different frequencies and volumes.
Each time the patient hears a beep, he presses
the button.
As you said, your right ear hears worse.
Although, your left ear also hears badly.
The problem is that you experience loud sounds
for long periods of time.
And that destroys your hearing and hair cells
of inner ear.
Your hearing loss is still in the early stages.
You have much to consider, because if you
continue to listen to loud music, your hearing
will inevitably decline and you will feel
worse.
What about you?
How long since you visited an ENT Specialist?
Let's do an experiment, if you hit a "group
of auditory risk."
To start, turn on the radio via the speakers.
Choose a talk station and set a quiet volume,
where you can make out the words.
Then start listening to music in headphones
at a normal volume for you.
In an hour, take your headphones off and turn
on the radio without a volume changing.
If you hear nothing, there is a temporary
threshold shift.
If noise exposure lasts during the whole night,
such as at a disco, it will probably take
more than 6-8 hours for the auditory nerve
to fully recover.
It is more likely to take a day or maybe even
longer.
And if noise exposure is repeated regularly,
the auditory nerve is no longer able to restore
its function, and then hearing loss begins.
So what to do if I want to listen to music
but do not want to be a deaf?
Here are several solutions: Wear earplugs
either for street or transport noise.
Try to listen to music with headphones for
no longer than 60 minutes a day at 60% of
the maximum volume.
Besides these tips, I have another quite interesting
one.
Have you heard about the Mozart effect?
This effect normalizes the organs in your
body when you listen to music composed by
Mozart.
By the way, does Slava decide to protect his
hearing?
Hmm...
Yeah, this way is also possible.
