Heads-up about headphones

If you use public transports, you will almost immediately see someone with some kind of personal listening device,  usually connected to their phone, via cable or Bluetooth. We are listening to ever more music and media. This comes with long-term, irreversible health hazards.

This is especially true in children, teens and young adults, who enjoy their music at a high volume. It can cause immediate hearing loss, sometimes not always noticed by the person.
Over time, this can cause loss of hearing and a condition that sets in later in life called tinnitus. It is a constant ringing or other noise that blocks out other sounds. Tinnitus can be severe, disturbing your sleep and sanity. It is your brain creating a phantom noise, trying to replace lost frequencies from the damage, just like someone with an amputation ‘feels’ their lost limb. It is not possible to reverse and very difficult to treat. Suffers complain bitterly about the experience.

High volumes may also even damage your vestibular system, responsible for your balance. The inner ear and nerve supplying this part give feedback as to where your body position is and prevents you from falling over.
In-ear buds hold the most danger, with over-ear headphones being only slightly better. So-called ‘bone-conducting’ headphones hold slightly less risk if used correctly. Noise-canceling headphones have the lowest risk because people tend to use them a at a lower volume, but this is not true if used at high volumes.

So, while I absolutely love loud music, I have started to listen up to the warnings in my phone. Most devices come with a 7-day advice limit, with some which prevent you from going above a certain volume. I use bone-conducting headphones as I also like to be aware of my surroundings, using them outside. I follow the advice of taking a 5 minute break every hour. The advice is to keep the music or audio-book to the level of a normal conversation (65dB). This can be difficult to measure. Headphones use should always be strictly limited in children.

References

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/healthy-headphone-use-how-loud-and-how-long-2020072220565
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/-5-ways-to-prevent-hearing-loss-/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4918682/
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14992027.2016.1190871
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaotolaryngology/article-abstract/2787785

http://www.medicalgraphics.de/en/free-pictures/organs/ear-anatomy.html