1.3 billion people can become deaf due to improper use of headphones – Scientists

Technologies that make our lives easier often have a downside. The invention of compact, portable headphones has allowed people to enjoy their music anywhere, anytime. But at the same time, it led to a problem – an excessively loud sound from the speakers directly into the ears began to cause massive hearing problems. Scientists are already sounding the alarm and sharing fresh research on the topic.

A group of researchers from Karolinska University combined data from 33 studies at once on the effect of loud sounds on human hearing. The result was a large sample of 20 thousand young people aged 12 to 34 years. It turned out that half of them used to listen to music at a very high volume – up to 112 decibels. To give you an idea, the rotating blades of a helicopter produce a noise of 110 decibels.

But even less is needed to ruin hearing – 85 decibels of noise can already damage the auditory nerve and reduce the number of hair cells. Especially if the sound effect occurs regularly. Over time, people begin to hear worse, hearing loss develops.

Right now, there are about 2.8 billion young people on our planet who fit into this age range. So from 670 million to 1.35 billion of them may face hearing problems. And many have already encountered them. Don’t make a mistake that could cost you your health. Control the volume level when listening to music and take breaks in time.