Why you need to use your earphones cautiously 

Disclaimer – This article is for educational purpose and doesn’t substitute any advice provided by a healthcare professional.

The advent of smart phones has changed the music listening experience over the last decade. With instant access of music at your fingertips, you can enjoy music on-demand anywhere and at any point of time.

These days it is very common to find people listening to music using earphones while commuting, at night before going to sleep, at their workplace, while working out in the gym etc. Well, it is indeed a great way to relax yourself, but, at what cost?

Parents needs to be watchful and keep all kinds of gadgets away from infants

No, we aren’t talking about the cost of your smart phone or earphone, but, rather about the possibility of hearing impairment that can potentially and irreversibly damage your ears.

As per the World health Organization, 1.1 billion teenagers and young adults are at the risk of hearing loss due to the unsafe use of personal audio devices, including smartphones, and exposure to noisy environments such as nightclubs, bars and sporting events.

Source -

World Health Organization

The World Health organization suggests the highest permissible noise exposure per day should be up to 85 (decibels) dB for maximum of eight hours. WHO also claims that noise levels can reach up to 100 dB in nightclubs, bars and sporting events is not safe for more than fifteen minutes.

Ear Phones

Most ear phones are capable of producing a decibel levels between 85 dB to 115 dB. As per 2011 research study, "some player/headphone combinations can produce sound levels reaching 120 or 130 decibels". Having said that, you can have a vicarious sense of the relation between the sounds produced from earphones and sounds you commonly hear everyday in the below list.

Different decibel levels

As per the Centers for disease control and prevention, "Noise above 85 dB over a prolonged period of time may start to damage your hearing. Loud noise above 120 dB can cause immediate harm to your ears"

What is the risk of prolonged exposure to high decibel levels?

As per the National institute of deafness and other communication disorders, prolonged exposure to abnormal sound levels can result in a health problem called Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) which can damage the ears resulting in deafness .

Conclusion

You need to be very careful with your ear phone usage on daily basis. Best practice is to limit the usage of earphones with lower or moderate volume. Avoid going to places where decibels reach abnormal levels and avoid listening to music at a high volume in confined spaces like cars.