We are listening for far too long and at an unacceptable volume—that is the conclusion of many audiologists when it comes to our frequent reliance on iPods, MP3 players and portable DVD players to wile away the hours.

A recent telephone survey commissioned by the American Speech Language Hearing Association (www.asha.org) found that both teenagers and their parents had experienced some symptoms of hearing loss. Symptoms included having to turn up the volume on the TV or radio, asking ‘what?’ during a conversation and experiencing tinnitus or ringing in the ears.

One of the more telling results to come out of the study was the fact that a little more than half of the students had experienced one or more of these symptoms, compared to 47 per cent of adults.

Though the causes of hearing loss were not firmly established, habitual exposure to devices like iPods was isolated as a potential factor, particularly among teenagers, who were found to be more than twice as likely to listen to music at detrimental high volumes as opposed to adults, though adults were found to listen to music for a longer duration.

One of the ways you can reduce the risk of hearing loss is by changing the way you listen to music or DVDS. This can be as simple as changing your headphones.

“Personal music systems often come with ear buds. These send the music directly down into the ear canal (one cannot move away from the speaker) so the loud sound all goes into the ear where the damage can occur. The ear buds do not isolate the wanted music from the unwanted background noise very well, so a listener might turn the volume up to hear a song while walking down a noisy urban street. Earphones that isolate the background noise by fitting snuggly into the ear can help with this situation,” says Pam Mason director, Audiology Professional Practices Unit, the American Speech Language Hearing Association.

Hearing loss due to noise pollution is preventable, and recognizing that you may be having hearing loss is the first step toward experiencing further damage.

“Our ears have some built-in resiliency and can recover—but only up to a point. You may have experienced this: leaving a loud rock concert, your ears ring and speech sounds muffled…after a quiet night of sleep these symptoms are gone. However, over time these symptoms can become permanent. Noise-induced hearing loss is permanent but it is preventable!” exclaims Mason.

Listen Up!

Adapt your listening habits:

• Don’t pit noise against noise. If you are listening to an MP3 player while walking down a busy city street, don’t crank the volume on your player. Make the choice to put your hearing above your musical appreciation and keep the volume low. Same goes for the gym. Don’t rely on loud music to keep you motivated.
• Toss your earbuds and find headphones that are designed to muffle background noise.
• Before reaching for the volume on your TV, look around and see how you can reduce the noise distraction around you, i.e., close the window or shut off a noisy ceiling fan.
• Enjoy the silence. There is more to life than filling it with noise. Give thanks for your good hearing health and take a technology breather.

NOISE PATROL

So how long and at what volume are our ears safe? Pam Mason shares suggested maximum amount of time at specified decibel (dB) levels:

• Eight hrs at 90dB (equal to sound of lawnmower)
• Four hrs at 95dB (equal to sound of motorcycle)
• Two hrs at 100dB (equal to sound of snowmobile)
• One hr at 105 dB (equal to sound of chain saw)
• Thirty min at 110 dB (equal to sound of rock concert)