Headsets and hearing loss
One in six adults has enough hearing loss to cause problems in social situations, says The MRC Institute of Hearing Research.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that loud music is the single biggest cause of preventable hearing loss.
Loud noises cause hearing loss by damaging the stereocilia: tiny hairs that sit on the top of hair cells in the inner ear. Noise makes them vibrate – changing the voltage in the hair cells – which then sends chemical messages through nerves to the brain. Battering the stereocilia damages the hearing.
If you’re a parent what should you advise your children?
Owen Brimijoin, an Investigator Scientist at the MRC Institute of Hearing Research in Glasgow, says you could ask them how much they are enjoying their music and suggest they’ll find it harder to listen to it in the future if they don’t turn it down.
How soon that might be is unknown: a seminal study on female jute weavers in Scotland (exposed to loud noise) published in 1965 found hearing loss after 10 to 15 years.
Brimijoin also suggests getting good-quality headphones, as cheap ones don’t transmit the bass well.
When you increase the volume it increases the high-frequency sounds as well and it is this noise that is most dangerous to hearing.
What should you do? – Reduce the volume of your music player and take frequent breaks.
There is also some evidence that vitamin C, an antioxidant, can prevent hearing loss.
