Hearing Loss and Ear Buds

When we’re young, we don’t think about things like hearing loss. Often it comes on very gradually that we don’t notice it right away. Are you suffering moderate hearing loss? Here is some information that may help you to determine that.

Back in the 1980s, Sony came out with the revolutionary “Walkman”. Since then the Walkman has gone from a compact cassette player to a compact CD player and these days, the MP3 player seems to be the thing. Headphones over the years have gone from big and bulky cups on our ears to lightweight and small and currently the ear buds that nestle IN our ears. These ear buds and give you great bass and very loud volumes with ease and with the digital reproduction of the music today, when listening, you’d swear that you were at a rock concert.

Thing is todays ear buds are said by many to be causing hearing loss in our young people. There are 16 year olds that have considerable hearing loss because of the long term use of these ear buds.

It is not difficult to find a youngster listening to music with ear buds at 110 to 120 decibels. That is the equivalent to a very loud hard rock concert and enough to cause permanent hearing loss after about 15 minutes. Further more, many MP3 players now have longer battery life and more storage for songs encouraging people to listen longer. The rule of thumb suggested by researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital is to hold the volume of a music player no higher than 60 percent of the maximum, and use it for only about an hour a day. The National Hearing Conservation Association also recommends that parents try to find audio gear for their kids that have volume-limiting devices built-in.

Some of the subtle signs of hearing loss are listed below.

You find it necessary to have the telephone on one specific ear to hear it well. This may be a sign of hearing loss in the opposite ear.

You may find it necessary when talking on the phone to turn down the television or to isolate yourself from people in the same room that may be talking at a normal level to hear the voice on the telephone.

You may have trouble hearing the person talking to you in a room that has a lot of background noise.

You may find it necessary for the person who is speaking to you to be facing you so that you can see their mouth movements. It’s not quite “reading lips” but subconsciously it is similar.

Go ahead, turn the music down a bit. That will enable you to being able to enjoy it to it’s full potential for years to come.