Ear problem due earphones

Introduction

Most people are aware of the fact that prolonged exposure toloud noises may cause damage to the hearing, and in some cases when the noiselevels are excessive, it may even be responsible for the occurrence ofdeafness. Hearing impairment is commonly triggered by exposure to noise in theworkplace. It is also not an uncommon thing to experience hearing damage at popconcerts due to the exposure to loud music. A large number of young peopleeverywhere around the world are probably not aware of the fact that they damagetheir hearing on a regular basis. It takes only one hour of listening to an mp3player through earphones each day for the damage to take place. Numerousscientific studies have shown that continuous listening to loud music usingearphones may be responsible for irreversible, permanent hearing problems.

Loudness

The official legislation limits the maximum noise generatedby mp3 players to 100 decibels. The scientific studies have shown that listeningto music at 89 decibels is enough to damage the hearing. Those who spend hourslistening to loud music through their earphones are actually getting doses ofnoise which are actually much more than the doses of noise allowed for factoryworkers by the Health and Safety regulations. Listening to music through theearphones at 100 decibels causes the same amount of damage as standing only 10feet away from a pneumatic drill. There are numerous different types ofearphones available on the market, but they deliver different noises as well.Earbud design of earphones is probably the one which has the most potential forcausing the damage because it forces the sound directly into the eardrum,unlike the ones which only sit at the top of the pinna. Earbuds are oftenreferred to as the noise cancelling earphones because they prevent the soundfrom escaping into the environment. Actually, there are quite a lot of peopleeverywhere around the world who are at risk of damaging their hearing. Thenumber of such people only in Europe may be up to 10 million. So the number isprobably having nine digits. The number of people with hearing problems in theUS has doubled since the 1970s.

Prevention

One should always purchase mp3 players which do not providemore than 85 decibels at their maximum setting. Listening at the highestpossible volume is not a good idea. Restricting the time spent listening tomusic through earphones should also be restricted.