Deafness is an increasingly common problem among young adults, and listening to music with headphones too loudly can promote it. Let’s see what science says about it.
Deafness is a serious problem in today’s society. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately466 million people worldwide are hearing impaired, of which 34 million are children. At this rate, by 2050 one in 10 people on Earth will suffer from disabling hearing loss.
Hearing loss can be due to genetic causes (congenital deafness at birth), complications in childbirth, infectious diseases, the use of certain drugs, prolonged exposure to loud noises and aging, among other things. Despite the multiple reasons that cause hearing loss, 60% of pathological conditions in infants are due to preventable processes.
That’s right: 1.1 billion young people are at risk of losing their hearing from the use of sound in recreational settings. Given these alarming data, we can only ask ourselves the following question, is it bad to listen to music with headphones? In the following lines we give you an answer, always based on scientific bases. Don’t miss it.
- We recommend you read: “Deafness (hearing impairment): what it is, types, causes and symptoms”
How is the use of headphones distributed in the population?
A headset (also known as a hearing aid) is a transducer that receives an electrical signal originating from an electrical source, be it a telephone, radio, MP3 device or other technological device. Its design is ergonomic, adapting perfectly to the user’s ears, putting at their disposal speakers that generate audible sound waves.
According to global statistical portals, a human being who has quick access to technology spent an average of 26.9 hours listening to music per week in 2019. In European countries like Spain, the figure was a little lower, almost 20 hours in 7 days. Assuming that each song has a standard length of 3 minutes, it can be calculated that a person, whether in the workplace or recreational, plays up to 56 songs in a single day. Music can be a great distraction, for both good and bad.
- We recommend you read: “Acoustic trauma: what it is, causes and frequent symptoms”
The audible spectrum in humans
Now you know that, on average, you will surely listen to between 15-30 hours of music a week. To answer the question posed above, we are left to explore the spectrum of human hearing, and what is considered scientifically negative for our hearing aid. Let’s get to it.
The audible spectrum is known as the set of frequencies that the human ear is able to perceive. As a general rule, this value in a healthy individual is considered to range from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. Values below this range are designated as infrasound (can be perceived as mechanical vibrations), and those above are ultrasound.
Depending on the tonality of the sound, the audible spectrum can be divided into 3 differentiable segments:
- Bass tones (16 Hz-256 Hz): low frequency, corresponding to the first 4 octaves.
- Midtones (256 Hz-2 kHz): average frequencies, corresponding to octaves 5-7.
- High tones (2 kHz- more than 16 kHz): the highest frequencies, corresponding to the last 3 octaves.
The audible spectrum varies between each person and based on the age of the individual’s hearing aid. Partial or total deafness is one of the most common disabling problems in old age because, without going any further, half of people over 75 have difficulty hearing.
What is considered a harmful audible spectrum?
All the information we are going to show you comes directly from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The premise is simple: the louder the sound heard and the longer it lasts over time, the greater the likelihood that the individual’s hearing will be irreversibly damaged.
To understand a little the values that we are going to show you next, it is necessary to introduce a new measure that is related to hertz but does not mean the same thing: the decibel. This is a unit that is used to express the relationship between two sound pressure values, or voltage and electrical power.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) places this limit at 85 dBA (weighted decibels). The range of the human ear generally moves between 0 and 120 decibels. To give you an idea, an atomic bomb produces a noise of about 200 decibels, while a expirator is placed at about 70.
Exceeding this limit of 85 decibels would be, for example, an electric drill (100 dB) and, therefore, the worker who uses it must always wear special hearing protectors. In the case of headphones and the use of the mobile phone, things get a little complicated.
The harmful effects of headphones
Here are 2 of the harmful effects that uncontrolled use of headphones can report.
1. Hearing loss
The maximum audio output volume of mobile devices can range from 75 to 130 decibels, depending on where you are geographically and the type of technology available to you. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is recommended to listen to music at most 60% of the total volume of the device, in order to avoid slow but continuous degradation of the user’s hearing aid.
The general limit is 80 decibels, better if it is around 50-60 in those people who consume music in a very continuous way. If these guidelines are not followed, you run the risk of mild or severe long-term hearing problems. It is not bad to listen to music with headphones, as long as this basic rule is respected.
You should keep in mind the following general rule: any sound greater than 90 dB, whether in the short or long term, can cause damage to the user’s internal auditory structure. When a limit of 120 decibels is exceeded continuously, irreversible hearing damage is virtually assured. To give you an idea, this sonic limit is exemplified by a running aircraft engine or a particularly scandalous pyrotechnic work.
2. Increased risk of accidents
As indicated by research published by the British Medical Journal (BMC), in the last 6 years the number ofserious accidents of pedestrians walking on the street listening to music with headphones has tripled. Yes, you heard that right.
Of all the cases analyzed in the period 2004-2011, 70% of them were fatal. In addition, the average age of the injured was 21 years, a figure that corresponds perfectly with the age ranges in which more music is heard (and at more volume). Finally, in many cases (up to 30%), alarm signals were produced before the collision took place, whether in the form of a whistle, shouting, horn and other shrill sounds. Unfortunately, the use of the headset did not allow the victims to react in time.
We revisited the question posed above: is it bad to listen to music with headphones? In the domestic sphere, as long as it is respecting a limit of 60-70 decibels, no.On the street, unfortunately, yes. Therefore, we recommend that, before crossing any sidewalk or transit crossing, you remove one of the 2 headphones from your ear and take special care when crossing the hura, in addition to following all the relevant road safety indications.
Summary
As you may have seen, this question has many more nuances than you might initially imagine. Listening to music with headphones is not bad per se, but it can become an extremely dangerous practice if you do not take into account the volume of the music and the general context of the act.
In general, we only recommend that you listen to music with headphones in closed environments, such as the bus, your home or the library. Finally, it is necessary to clarify that listening to music with headphones when you are driving a vehicle (be it a car, motorcycle or bicycle) is strictly prohibited and, therefore, is a practice punishable by law. Don’t forget.
To the classic question “what do you do?” I always answer “basically I am a psychologist”. In fact, my academic training has revolved around the psychology of development, education and community, a field of study influenced my volunteer activities, as well as my first work experiences in personal services.