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Is Your iPod Causing You Hearing Damage?
If an MP3 player were a car, then Apple’s iPod would probably be a Ferrari. A black one. Or maybe white.
The iPod has changed the way people listen to music and look at entertainment since the first model was released in 2001. It definitely is part of pop culture nowadays, and it’s quite normal to see those iconic white earphones on commuters in the subway or at a random jogger at the park.
There are more than 173 million iPod users around the world. If you’re one of them, let me ask you this: how’s your hearing?
Are iPods Bad for Your Hearing?
You can damage your hearing in so many ways and your iPod may be one of the culprits.
Many music enthusiasts are aware that using iPods and MP3 players, especially at high volumes, can lead to hearing loss, but unfortunately, most don’t do anything about it.
When asked to turn down the volume on their iPods, teens often do the opposite: they turn the volume way up instead.
Researchers at Colorado University and Children’s Hospital in Boston conducted a study on 30 young iPod users and found that teenagers tend to play music louder than adults and are often unaware of how loud their music is.
The study documented that listening to music using earbuds (in-ear headphones) for 90 minutes a day at 80 percent volume is probably safe for long-term hearing. The safe level is at 70 percent volume for about 4.5 hours a day or 80 percent volume for 1.2 hours a day.
However, your risk of damaging your hearing permanently increases if you listen to music at full volume for just 5 minutes a day using earbuds. The loud noise can damage the delicate hair cells in your inner ear that transform sound waves to the electrical signals that your brain recognizes as sound.
If you’re using isolator earphones, which block background noise, full volume should not exceed 3 minutes, while 18 minutes is the maximum full volume time for supra-aural earphones that are placed above the ear.
According to the study, only between 7 to 24% of iPod users listen to music with risky volume levels. Because let’s face it, why would someone want to listen to music at maximum volume? The few who do probably assume that Apple’s maximum default setting is safe, or that they won’t have any hearing damage if they turn the volume down occasionally.
Hearing Loss Is a Real Problem
Because a lot of people are buying portable digital audio players and spending more time listening to music through headphones, the risk of suffering hearing loss is real. It’s just a matter of how high the volume of music is and the length of listening time. The iPod’s long-lasting batteries certainly beat those of the old Walkmans; you can listen to music for 15 hours or more.
Your risk of suffering from hearing loss is higher if you live or work in a noisy environment, which encourages you to turn up the volume most of the time.
Noise-induced hearing loss is increasing among the young, which is pretty ironic because old age is supposed to be the main cause. In fact, 65 percent of those with hearing problems are below retirement age and studies suggest that the brain is a big factor in age-related hearing loss.
If you regularly use gadgets that send amplified sound directly into the ear canal, such as cell phones and iPods, you’re definitely at risk. Luckily, it’s easy to prevent this kind of hearing loss because the methods are mostly common sense:
• Avoid noisy activities and take breaks of silence to allow your ears to recover.
• Turn down the volume of your iPod/MP3 player and choose noise-reduction earphones so you can listen to music at lower and safer volumes.
• Avoid drugs that can impair your hearing.
Studies shows that vitamin E can help prevent hearing loss and repair the damage sustained, as patients who received a treatment that included taking vitamin E increased their recovery rate by 75 percent, compared to only a 45 percent recovery rate for those who did not take any vitamin E.
If you still have perfect hearing, lay off the iPod for a bit so you don’t have to replace those familiar white earphones with hearing aids in the future.
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Tags: hearing damage, hearing loss, iPod
