One of the incredible things about technology is the way we can now take our entire music collection with us everywhere we go. No longer do we need to lug around cassette tapes and CDs for our listening pleasure. Thanks to our smartphones and devices, we have the potential to listen for hours on end, uninterrupted. Have you ever considered though, what effect listening to music through your headphones can have on your hearing?
Enjoying your music a little too much
Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), is one of the most easily preventable forms of hearing loss and is a cumulative condition*, meaning that the more we expose our ears to dangerous sound levels, the closer we get to developing it.
When you listen to music with headphones, sometimes it can be difficult to know just how loud the music is. This is especially the case if you are listening in a noisy environment, such as on a bus or plane, where you are using your own music to drown out any background noise.
It all comes down to how loud, and how long you listen to your music for.
You can help to protect your ears by:
- taking regular breaks from listening and monitoring how much time you listen to music.
- using active noise cancelling headphones so you don't need to turn up the volume to hear over ambient noise.
- setting a volume limit to prevent accidental listening at 100% volume.
If you regularly listen to music via your headphones on your smartphone and would like to check your hearing, book an appointment or call 0800 569 152 to request an appointment with your local Audika clinic.
* NAL, Hearing Loss Prevention (Protection). Accessed October 23, 2015
