You could be turning deaf
because of your headphones.
Our expert lists a guide of
what you should avoid while
listening to your favourite
tracks on the go Is music your safe haven from
the hellish traffic jams you
travel through everyday? You
might need to re-think this
strategy. Drowning out
incessant honking on our potholeridden roads with
Comfortably Numb, might just
be numbing your eardrums for
life. Like Rajeev Khandelwal who loses his hearing in
Soundtrack, thanks to his
constant use of headphones as
a DJ; the actor's on-screen
nightmare can actually become
your reality. In today's world of iPods and
phones that can play music,
most people are plugged in
constantly. Our expert Dr Nishit
Shah, ENT consultant at
Bombay Hospital tells you what you can do to avoid
losing your sense of sound. Play it loud Listening to music at half the
volume your player is
obviously not damaging. It all
depends on the volume and
how long you are listening to
it. Shah says, "There are guidelines laid down by World Health Organization as to what decibels are permissible. Most
workplaces and music player
manufacturers adhere to these
guidelines. But constant
exposure is still a problem."
Cranking up the volume for longer periods of time is very
dangerous, and can lead to
partial deafness. The higher
the volume gets the lesser
amount of time the ear can
take it. Uncomfortably numb Unlike people who go deaf
during a bomb blast or hearing
the sonic boom of a plane,
deafness caused by
headphones creeps on you and
if not checked, the effects can be adverse. "I have seen
people who show no obvious
signs of deafness when they
are young, can hardly hear
anything when they reach
their 60s." Studies show that this is common among people
who go for a lot of concerts
and clubs. Shah says, "Deafness
caused due to listening to
music does not happen
overnight. The ear warns you before things can get really
bad with tinnitus. You get a ringing sound in your
ear, which means hearing loss is imminent. When you exit a
club, your ears feel relieved
and you can't hear too well
immediately. That's because
your ears are adapting to the
new environment." In fact, Shah says that moving
from an extremely loud place
(like a club) to an extremely
quiet place can be more
damaging than exposing
yourself to higher decibels for longer. Right hear, right now Studies have shown that other
than musicians and people in
studios who want to listen to
intricate sounds of a particular
track, most people listen to
music on headphones loudly to drown out background noise.
The standard ear piece or even
normal headphones are no
good. Shah recommends using
in-ear headsets or noise
reduction/cancellation headphones that naturally
drown out background noise.
He says, "People who use
these headsets have a
tendency to listen to music at a
lower volume anyway. So, if you want to listen to
something throughout the day
this would be the best way to
avoid loss of hearing." The cure The scariest part about losing
your hearing ability is that
there is nothing you can do to
regain it. The strongest
preventive drug doctors
prescribe is "common sense". Shah says, "Most people don't
buy headphones because of
quality, they buy it because it
is loud enough. How do you tell
people otherwise? You have to
be aware of what is happening to your ears. As
soon as you feel any
discomfort, take a break. You
cannot listen to music loudly
for eight hours in a row. This
will obviously affect your hearing." If you feel like you are losing
your sense of hearing, head to
an ENT immediately. In the
first few days of being
affected, your hearing can be
repaired with the help of steroids, but very few people
actually spot the impediment
so soon. Then, of course, there
are hearing aids. These are
used when the damage is
already done though, and you want to avoid that altogether. Just how much is too much? Research suggests that risk of
permanent hearing loss goes
up with just five minutes of
exposure a day to music at full
volume. Traffic noise is at
about 70 to 80 decibels. If you're trying to drown this out,
you will hit dangerous decibel
levels. Listening to earbuds, or
in-ear headphones, for 90
minutes a day at 80 percent
volume is probably safe. However, different brands
have different volumes and
that needs to be factored into
the decision to buy headsets

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