how to reverse hearing loss from headphones

The impact of headphones on hearing is not insignificant. Now, hearing loss is much more common and occurs in younger people than just a dozen years ago. The reason is the widespread listening to music on portable players. High decibels and headphones inside the ear are a nightmare for your hearing.

Effects of headphones on hearing – how does the ear work?

To better understand the difference, it’s worth considering how exactly the sense of hearing works. The body is set to catch sounds from the environment. This is what the ear does with the outer auricle. Do you know why your auricle is so wavy? Its odd shape is designed to collect sound waves and feed them into the ear canal.

Further, thanks to the vibration of the eardrum, the sounds, translated into vibrations, are transferred to the part of the ear called the cochlea, and there they cause the appropriate pressure of the fluid on the cells, which further convert the vibration into the appropriate signal and transmit it to the brain. The quality of hearing depends on many factors, but there is no denying that a significant one is the number of hearing cells.

Headphones – are they healthy?

The most common type of headphones is in-ear headphones, placed inside the ear. Unfortunately, these are the ones that pose the most danger to your hearing. This type of headphone exposes your ear to direct contact with the sound wave and damages your hearing when listening to loud music.

In headphones placed on the ear from the outside, the sound wave is somewhat cushioned by the air layer between the earphone and the eardrum. Therefore, the best choice is the so-called external-ear headphones. 

True, their earcups have a layer around the earcup to seal the flow of sound into the ear and dampen outside sounds, but they do not fit perfectly and do not cover the entire earcup. As a result, the wave is cushioned by a layer of air between the earphone and the inner ear, plus you have good ear ventilation.

How loud can you listen to music on headphones?

You should not listen to music on headphones for more than an hour a day and not be too loud. A level of 105 dB can be considered safe if you listen for 4 minutes. After that, it is hell for your feelings.

When you whisper, you generate sounds of 30 dB. When you speak, their level increases to about 65 dB. If you shout, sounds reaching 85 dB reach your ears. The safe limit is 80 – 85 dB; if you do not exceed it, listening to music through headphones should not adversely affect your hearing. It is also worth paying attention to the selection of headphones and where you use them.

Regardless of the type of headphones, you use, it is crucial to reduce the risk of hearing damage associated with their use. When listening to music in a quiet environment, the style of headphones may not matter as much, but when staying in a noisy place, noise-canceling headphones reduce outside noise.

Allowing you to enjoy music or movies at a lower volume without distraction will be the safest. Another of the biggest changes worth making to protect your hearing is to lower the volume on your devices.