Is Christmas music ringing in your ears?
Summertime holidays are a good time to get out and about in the sun with your favourite music in your ear pods.
Posted Wednesday December 8, 2021
But wait! We’d like to remind you to take care of your hearing and not
overdo the listening volume or, just as importantly, the duration. An excess of
either can damage your hearing, and once it’s gone you never get it back.
Most people know that headphone or ear pod volume
over 85 decibels damages hearing. But volume is only part of the equation — listening
duration also damages ears, and listening at a ‘safe’ volume for several hours causes
just as much damage.
Damage from constant low-level noise builds up with little warning so you could end up with hearing loss, tinnitus, aural fullness, sensitivity and pain. Any ear symptom is serious — ringing, muffling, fullness, fluttering, thumping, sensitivity, distortion, pain — even if temporary. The process is so gradual that it’s often hard to tell if you’ve damaged your ears until it’s too late.
This is not to say you shouldn’t allow yourself to occasionally turn up a favourite song — but a handy formula to apply is duration x volume: as one increases, the other should decrease.
Enjoy your music over the holidays, just make sure you enjoy it safely.
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