Headphones are harmful: every fourth American has hearing damage

Heal all, heal a good doctor ... True, hearing loss is practically not treated, except in rare cases. So the hearing is worth saving

Total or partial hearing loss is one of the most common chronic diseases in the world. In particular, in the USA, hearing problems in patients occupy the third most common place among chronic diseases. Most often the problem is associated with diabetes or cancer. Professional activities are also one of the common causes of hearing problems. Even attending concerts with loud music can result in hearing loss, not temporary, but permanent.

Doctors say that the louder the sound and the longer a person is exposed to it, the more damage to the organs of hearing. But there is another factor that often leads to problems with hearing, and the damage to the organs of hearing is no less strong than that of workers constantly exposed to strong noises. We are talking about headphones and people who constantly listen to loud music.

The conclusion about the dangers of headphones (more precisely, loud music that is played with their help) was made by experts in the course of data analysis of the large-scale study NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey). In this study, physicians used two methods of collecting information: interviews and direct hearing tests for people in the age group of 20-69 years. In total, 3583 people took part in the study. Data was collected over two years, from 2011 to 2012.
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During the hearing test, physicians figured out the range of sound frequencies that volunteers can hear at various levels of sound volume. In case of problems with hearing, patients cannot hear sounds of a certain frequency, for example, 3, 4, 5 KHz with a sound volume of 15 dB. As it turned out, the problems are observed in the fourth part (24.4%) of volunteers. In men, hearing disorders were detected approximately twice as often as in women.

It also turned out that the higher the age of a person, the more likely it is that he has hearing problems. But also among young people, problems were revealed in a large number of volunteers belonging to the age group of 20-29 years. Here, hearing disorders are found in 19.2% of volunteers. Large-scale problems among young people came as a surprise to the authors of the study. And most of the young people who took part in the study were not too noisy at work or at home. As it turned out, these volunteers just love to listen to loud music in headphones of any type (plugs, regular headphones, etc.).

In addition, the hearing organs did not work as expected in about 20% of the 2360 volunteers who said they were not exposed to a loud sound at work. Among the 2953 people who rated their hearing as “excellent” or “good,” problems were observed in 23.5% of cases. True, it was about the fact that volunteers are not susceptible to the sound of one or two specific frequencies at a certain volume.


The increase in the number of cases of problems with the organs of hearing with age

In general, the research findings are quite interesting (I remind you that the research itself was conducted only among Americans and did not affect representatives of other countries):
About 40 million Americans between the ages of 20 and 69 have hearing problems;
Approximately 50% of Americans among volunteers with hearing disorders are not exposed to loud noises at work;
1 in 4 Americans who have reported excellent or good hearing have problems with their hearing organs.

At risk, physicians include people who:

• Exposed to loud noises at home or on vacation;
• Work in enterprises with high noise levels (from 85 dB and more for 8 hours or longer);
• Are men;
• Belong to the age group of 40 years and older.

What can be done to avoid hearing problems? Specialists from the United States advise the following:

• Avoid places with a high volume sound background;
• Use earplugs, ear protection at work with high noise levels;
• Do not listen too loud to TV or music with or without headphones;
• Regularly checked with a doctor for hearing health.

Problems, if any, can be identified in the following cases:

• You do not understand the interlocutor in the background is not very loud noise;
• You do not understand the speech of your interlocutor, who speaks at a normal volume when you do not see his lips;
• You often do not hear what friends or family members, colleagues say.

Of course, headphones are not to blame in all cases of hearing impairment, but the results of a study of the age group of volunteers from 20 to 29 years give reason to think. Most often, young people listen to music in headphones.