Are Earphones Causing Hearing Loss in Teens?

I see so many tweens with earphones stuck in their ears. I see them walking, skateboarding, playing video games, and listening to iPods.

And every time I see them, I cringe. The speech and hearing specialist in me dies a little inside every time I can hear music leaking from those earphones. I can almost see the hearing loss happening. 

I’m specifically picking on earphones or ear-buds, instead of headphones here. The difference? Earphones fit inside the ear canal; they’re what you see on the iPod commercials. Headphones fit over the ear, like an old-school DJ.

The earphones sit closer to the inner structures of the ear; making noise induced hearing loss more common. And hearing loss? It’s irreversible. Well, unless you’re a chicken. One of the best memories I have from college is when my older, wiser professor took time out of our lecture to tell us that chickens are the only creatures that can reproduce inner ear hair cells. You know, the ones that get damaged and lead to hearing loss.

I’m going to get technical here, so let’s brush up on your audiology:

A normal talking conversation between two people will read (on a decibel meter) about 60 dB.

A hair dryer? About 90 dB.

And earphones? At an average/loud level (hard to set since different headphones have different levels) measure about 100 dB. They are usually turned up even louder because while headphones isolate sounds, earphones have to be turned up louder to compensate for the sound that “leaks” out. The National Institute For Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommends listening to 100 dB sounds for no longer than 2 minutes.

Yes, I just said 2 minutes. That’s not even long enough to finish one Justin Bieber song!

Day after day of listening to music through earphones can add up to a permanent hearing loss for your tween. Common signs of hearing loss are: answering different questions than what was asked, asking for repetition, pronouncing sounds inappropriately (they’ll say what they hear), and difficulty hearing in loud places such as restaurants or shopping malls.

Protecting against hearing loss is fairly simple. Where appropriate, ask your child to wear headphones instead of earphones. Set the volume control/lock at an appropriate level on electronics that have them (iPods do). Explain noise induced hearing loss to your tween. And most importantly? Watch for signs of hearing loss in your tweens. 

Have you thought about noise induced hearing loss? What are you doing to help prevent hearing loss in your tween?