Most of us listen to music to either escape reality, ignore people or to just relax. Every time, a large majority of us have the volume up to the max. What if I told you that listening to music at a high volume continuously can cause hearing loss? 

Our ears, the cells and membranes within them, are very sensitive and complex. They have millions of little hair-like structures called stereocilia , which can become easily damaged if a noise is too loud. But it can only happen if you listen to said noise in a repetitive cycle.

Dr. Brian Wang, an ear, nose and throat doctor who specializes in hearing loss, explained that our ears are very complex: “If damage accumulates over time and causes you to lose hearing, you can’t get it back.”.

Listening to music for long periods of time at a high volume can cause damage such as Tinnitus, imbalance in your muscles and joints, sensitivity and of course hearing loss, in the span of 15 minutes. Our audio devices have a sound level ranging from 75-136 decibels. If you are at a concert, the music from the speakers can exceed 102, which is enough to cause hearing loss.

A way you can avoid damaging your ears some more, is by limiting your listening time to 60 minutes a day and being sure to keep the volume below 70dB. A few helpful tips for you to check if your headphones are too loud is to do the ringing test, ask a friend, or even holding them out at arms length to see if you can hear the music coming from them.

Students in Point Pleasant Boro High School are always seen with headphones in their ears and almost all the time, they have the music to the max. 72% of those around school have the volume in the middle range while 13% listen to it at the max, so that means that 85% of students in the school will likely suffer hearing loss in their early adult life. This is a scary number, consider listening at a lower level.

If you have to listen to it at a higher volume, try to decrease the amount of time that your spending on the headphones. This may help dodge hearing loss in the future.