Earbuds are appealing for a ton of reasons, but you need to make sure they aren’t damaging your hearing.
Earbuds are a great option for listening to music: small enough for easy travel, powerful sound, and can be used alongside your phone or while exercising. As great as earbuds may be, there’s no denying that they can negatively impact your hearing health as well. Noise-induced hearing loss as a result of earbuds is becoming a serious issue. Many teenagers and young adults are experiencing some level of hearing loss due to earbuds, so here are a few ways you can protect your ears while still enjoying the music you love.
Keeping the Volume Low
If you care about your hearing health, you’ll know that it’s important to keep the volume at a moderate level. It might be easy to let the volume creep up on you, but you should always be mindful of how loud you’re playing your devices. Most experts recommend only using about 60-80% of the available maximum volume on your devices in order to reduce hearing loss risk.
Choosing Headphones
Having noise cancelling headphones may help trick your brain into thinking that you don’t need to turn the volume any louder than you have to. Plus, a lot of over-ear headphones will fit better anyway. If you really love your buds, though, you may want to invest in a pair that has inline volume control so that you can always adjust your volume on the go.
Watch For Tinnitus
Tinnitus can act as an early warning sign for potential hearing loss. If you notice your ears beginning to ring, take precautions to keep the volume down as low as you can. More importantly, schedule an ear check up so you can be proactive in your hearing health.
Bay Area Audiology can help your hearing recover!
If you are concerned about hearing loss or seeking hearing evaluations, tinnitus evaluations, or hearing aid assistance, our doctors are ready to help. We are passionate about helping all of our patients improve their quality of life through better hearing. We also believe that patient education is critical, so you won’t be lead through endless sales pitches at our office. If you are interested in hearing how we can help you hear even better, contact us at (410) 838-4327 or online. For more hearing tips and articles, follow Bay Area Audiology on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.
Don’t hesitate–we can help.