Posts Tagged ‘young people and hearing loss’

Portable music players, MP3 players, iPods — these things have been getting a lot of attention lately not just for being convenient and cool, but because they have the potential to cause hearing loss when the user listens to music too loudly for prolonged periods of time.

When music is listened to too loudly through earbuds, it’s especially dangerous. And that’s exactly how people primarily listen to their iPods and other portable MP3 players. Those who are listening to music too loudly for long periods of time are putting themselves at risk for hearing loss and tinnitus.

There’s a great recent article about this problem in the Sudbury Star. The story points out that The Who’s Pete Townshend has attributed his hearing loss and tinnitus to using loud headphones. It also mentions how the director of clinical education in audiology at Purdue University has seen a greater number of young people who have “old ears,” which means their hearing loss is on par with an older person.

Though the iPod, the current trendy portable music device, seems to dominate headlines, we can’t forget about the Walkman. Popular in the 1980s and 1990s, the Walkman affected the hearing of its users back then — people in their 30s and 40s who used the Walkman frequently, according to the article, are now being seen by hearing specialists for “intense tinnitus and a whooshing in the ears.”

What’s more is that today, iPod users are listening to music much longer than people who used the Walkman did. That spells trouble.

The suggestion here and in the Sudbury Star article isn’t to trash your favorite portable music device and stop listening to music. Rather, the suggestion is to listen to music at a level that won’t cause hearing loss. The article suggests keeping the volume to 50-60% of the device’s maximum volume. Another tip for preventing hearing loss from portable music players is to take frequent breaks to give your ears a rest.

If you think you may be suffering from hearing loss, feel free to take our hearing self-evaluation or stop by one of our Hearing Aid Express locations in Austin, Dallas or Houston to find out more about hearing aids.