Healthy Use of Headphones: How Loud and How Long?

As our society and culture become more connected through technology, the use of headphones is increasing. Headphones allow people to enjoy music and have conversations anytime, anywhere. The ease of use and mobility of the headset cannot be overemphasized. 

This is especially true now as our society spends more time in virtual meetings and headsets during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the convenience and increased utility of headphones, there remains the question of safety in use. There's such a thing as healthy headphone use; you just need to be aware of safe volume levels and when not to wear them.

Shouldn't sound provide a vehicle for communication and awareness of our environment? Yes, the sound is a fundamental form of communication that also allows us to adapt to our environment; however, the inner ear is very sensitive to the balance of sound it perceives. There are thousands of cells in the ear, some of which have tiny hair-like structures called hair cells, which are responsible for carrying sound from the ear back to the brain, where it is further processed. Too much sound can cause permanent damage to these cells, interrupting the mechanism by which sound is transmitted. Damage to the connection between hair cells and nerve cells can also occur, and even if the hair cells remain normal, this connection can be interrupted by too much sound. In short, one thing is clear: too much sound is bad.

The CDC has detailed information on various everyday experiences and the volume or decibel (dB) levels associated with them. One of the important things to note when considering headphones is that personal listening devices are set to a maximum volume of around 105 to 110 dB. For reference, exposure to sound levels above 85 decibels (equivalent to a lawnmower or leaf blower) for more than two hours may cause ear damage, while exposure to 105 to 110 decibels may cause ear damage within five minutes. cause damage. Sounds below 70 decibels are unlikely to cause any significant damage to the ears. This is important to understand because the maximum volume of personal listening devices is above the threshold for damage to occur (children and adults)! It is important that you, as an audience, know that most devices can actually be used in harmful ways. Ultimately, a personal listening device should make the listener feel comfortable.

In addition to volume, the length of exposure to sound is also an important factor in ear damage. In short, loud sounds have the potential to cause more damage with less exposure. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires employers to provide hearing protection for employees exposed to an average of 85 decibels for more than eight hours. While that sounds like a lot, just using the headphones at slightly higher volumes for less than an hour can take its toll, and it's easy to imagine listening to music with the headphones on for an hour or more. Importantly, it should be safe to listen at a comfortable volume for an unlimited amount of time, but the time of use and loudness of exposure must be balanced.

Our ears can be damaged by too much sound, and the combination of too much sound and exposure time can lead to potential hearing problems. Here are some suggestions for developing healthy listening habits.

- Pay attention to how long and how loudly you listen.

- Take a break after a long listening session and make sure to listen at a comfortable volume.

- Be prepared. Wear earplugs or headphones if you are going to an event where loud noise is likely to occur for an extended period of time, such as a concert or sporting event. From simple foam earplugs to headphones with noise-canceling properties, to customizable ear molds made by audiologists, there is a range of devices that can provide protection from potentially damaging situations.

Finally, feel free to speak to an audiologist or ENT doctor if you have any questions about headphone usage or safe volume levels. Hearing health is important and complex, and we can help you take steps to protect your ears while using headphones.

The above introduces the problems related to the healthy use of earphones. If you want to buy earphones, please contact us.

JUNYE is a professional custom earphone supplier with 30 years of production experience. We provide one-stop service, design-development-production and shipping. With more than 400 employees and 60,000 square meters of factory buildings, it specializes in OEM/ODM. We have our own mold center and the whole industry chain: hardware, injection molding, wire, cushion, assembly, packaging.