Hyperacusis “Earphone usage should not exceed more than an hour per day. Make sure you limit your usage and keep ear pain or hearing loss at bay,” recommended Dr Agarwal. So ladies, don't forget to take a break from your earphones.
Keep your volume at just over half or lower
So, for instance, if you're listening to something at 88 decibels, it's only safe to do so for four hours. Dr. Pavlovich Ruff suggests turning your headphone volume to just over half or below and not wearing them for too long.
Duration of exposure to noise is also a major factor when examining headphones and hearing loss. “As a rule of thumb, you should only use MP3 devices at levels up to 60% of maximum volume for a total of 60 minutes a day,” says Dr. Foy. “The louder the volume, the shorter your duration should be.
Using your earphones or headphones for way too long can lead to hearing losses, especially when the volume is too high. But you can prevent unwanted hearing problems from occurring when you keep the volume at 60% and use the headphones only for one hour.
For reference, exposure to sound levels above 85 dB (equal to a lawnmower or leaf blower) can cause possible ear damage with exposure of more than two hours, while exposure to sound of 105 to 110 dB can cause damage in five minutes. Sound less than 70 dB is unlikely to cause any significant damage to the ears.
Noise-induced hearing loss due to earbuds is 100% preventable if you don't use them too long or too loudly. Doctors recommend the 60%/60-minute rule: Listen to music or play a movie or video game at no more than 60% of the maximum volume. Limit the amount of time you spend with earbuds in your ears to 60 minutes.
Wearing headphones all day can increase your risk for ear infections, hearing loss, and tinnitus. However, if you maintain a safe listening volume of less than 85dB (SPL) and regularly clean your headphones, it's safe to use them all day.
Safe-Listening Tips
Follow the “60:60 rule.” Listen at 60 percent of the maximum volume for no more than 60 minutes a day. If the device has a “smart volume” feature, use it. This feature helps regulate the volume. Keep the volume low, even in noisy situations.
Earphones carry dirt and bacteria which transfer directly to your ears. You may suffer an allergic reaction or develop a rash or infection. A build-up of ear wax is also likely if you wear earphones frequently – they stop the wax from coming out of the ear canals naturally and can cause a wax blockage.
Experts recommend keeping sound levels at somewhere between 60 and 85 decibels to minimize the damage your ears are exposed to. If you are listening to music at around 100 decibels, restrict your usage to within 15 mins. However, these are general guidelines and listening threshold is different for each individual.
The higher the level of sound and longer the duration, the greater the risk of hearing loss. For example, you can safely listen to a sound level of 80dB for up to 40 hours a week. If the sound level is 90dB, the safe listening time reduces to four hours per week.
Most headphones require at least 40 hours of burn-in time to reach their optimal performing state. The main purpose of the burn-in process is to loosen the diaphragm of a newly crafted headphone and to stress the headphone driver. Most audiophiles agree that the sound quality will be noticeably improved after burn-in.
Normal hearing usually returns within a few hours to a few days. This is because the hair cells, similar to blades of grass, will bend more if the sound is louder. But they will become straight again after a recovery period. However, if loud noise damaged too many of the hair cells, some of them will die.
When attending loud events such as these, take frequent breaks by stepping outside or going somewhere to separate yourself from the noise, even if just for five minutes. After the event has ended, try to spend time in a quiet environment for at least one day to allow your ears to rest and recover.
If you can clearly hear your music while holding your earbuds or headphones an arm's length away, your music is probably too loud. Click on the everyday sounds below the radio to view their average sound level and how they affect your hearing.
Dark brown or black colored earwax is typically older, so its color comes from the dirt and bacteria it has trapped. Adults tend to have darker, harder earwax. Dark brown earwax that is tinged with red may signal a bleeding injury. Light brown, orange or yellow earwax is healthy and normal.
Itchy ears can sometimes be a sign of an ear infection. Bacteria and viruses cause them, usually when you have a cold, the flu, or allergies. One kind, swimmer's ear, can happen when water stays in your ear after you swim. Too much moisture wears away your ear canal's natural layer of defense against germs.
Earwax is a combination of skin cells that slough off your ear canal and secretions from your ceruminous and the sebaceous glands. As skin cells are shed, they mix with these secretions to produce earwax. The wetness that you feel in your ear is mostly the secretions from the glands in your ear that help form earwax.
Normal hearing range is from 0 dBHL (Decibel Hearing Level), which is the audiometric zero, to 20 dBHL. Any threshold, at any frequency, that is over 20 dBHL is identified as hearing loss. Though a 'normal' audible range for loudness is 0 – 180dB, anything over 85dB is considered damaging for our hearing.
A hearing loss of up to 20 decibels below the hearing threshold is still considered to be normal hearing. More severe hearing loss can be described according to severity, as follows: Mild hearing loss: Hearing loss of 20 to 40 decibels. Moderate hearing loss: Hearing loss of 41 to 60 decibels.
Sadly, there is no way to reverse damage caused to the inner ear. Once the hairs in your inner ear are destroyed to the point they cannot repair themselves, they are lost for the rest of your life. We cannot currently restore damaged cells in the ear canal.
If your headphones don't fit correctly, they can more easily fall off while you sleep. You could accidentally move onto them while asleep, exerting pressure. For most headphones, sleeping on them will likely cause them to break, bend, or create stress points in the joints and connections.
“Earphone usage should not exceed more than an hour per day. Make sure you limit your usage and keep ear pain or hearing loss at bay,” recommended Dr Agarwal. So ladies, don't forget to take a break from your earphones.
According to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) exposure to a noise level in the range of 85 dBA for a period greater than 8 hours may result in hearing loss. For each addition of 3 dB the exposure time is cut in half (ie. 88 dBA for 4 hours; 91 dBA for 2 hours; etc.)