Can You Hear Me Now?

A study found that one in five adolescents is suffering from hearing loss due to listening to loud music through earbuds. According to The Journal of American Medical Association, a sample of US adolescents, ages 12 to 19 were surveyed in 2005 & 2006 with 19.5% reporting some loss in hearing. Compared to 14.9% in a study covered between 1988-1994, some experts are saying it’s a correlation we should not overlook.

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Jackhammers produce a continuous sound of over 85 decibels with industrial workers wearing ear protection and having annual hearing exams. Yet, our super cute earbuds can output in excess of 110 decibels. And don't forget how deep they are in the ear, which effectively magnifies sound up another 5-9 decibels.

H.E.A.R. says that exposures to 100 decibels should be limited to about two hours. Of course all of our music players can play far more hours of continuous music {depending on your player}, making it easy to overdo it on a daily basis.

Admittedly, I'm the first to listen to music LOUD, LOUD, {especially my favorite songs} so far be it from me to preach "turn it down" ..but, at the very least we can try and limit our exposure to shorter time frames...and maybe cap the volume.