iPods and Ear Damage, Limiting Dangerous Decibels

Written by Maria Gaura

SANTA CRUZ (May 2009) - When the iPod was introduced in 2001, it was a $400 toy for tech-savvy grownups. Today, with sales in the hundreds of millions, these tiny agents of auditory obliviousness have penetrated every level of society. They’re helping joggers set the pace, providing bus riders with a sense of privacy, and convincing teenagers that they’re living life to the beat of a movie soundtrack.

And those ubiquitous earbuds are increasingly being wedged into the ears of young children. My daughter recently complained that she was one of only three kids in her 5^th grade class who didn’t have an iPod. Some of her classmates have owned portable MP3 players for years.

I resisted her pleas. We wear sunscreen and bike helmets, and keep fresh batteries in the smoke detectors. Why would I hand my kid a device capable of blasting 105 decibels directly into her eardrums?

SEDUCTIVE MARKETING VS PUBLIC HEALTH

Research on noise-induced hearing loss has been outpaced by technology, and public health warnings have been swamped by a tidal wave of seductive marketing. But beneath the hype, a picture is emerging of the real risks, and the unfounded fears, of inserting those earbuds and cranking the volume.

While only a small percentage of headphone wearers are damaging their hearing with loud music, the huge number of overall users is producing significant numbers of casualties. And because of their incomplete physical and emotional development, children and teens are at particular risk for hearing loss due to misusing an MP3 player.

Recent research indicates that teens listen louder than adults, boys listen louder than girls, and that kids who think they are at risk for hearing loss actually crank up the volume louder than their peers. Teenagers. Go figure.

“We think that more kids are being identified with hearing loss at earlier ages,” said Anne Oyler, Associate Director of Audiology at the American Speech, Language and Hearing Association. “One study found that more than 5 million children 6 to 19 years of age have hearing loss due to noise exposure. That is not due to iPods specifically, but there is a sense that hearing loss is on the increase. And that’s why early education is so critical.”

KILLING THE CILIA

The process of hearing loss is straightforward. Sound energy causes the eardrum to vibrate, setting up movement in the fluid-filled part of the inner ear called the cochlea. The cochlea is lined with some 15,000 cilia, nerve-bearing hair-like cells, which move with the vibration and transmit electrical impulses to the brain, which are interpreted as sound.

When ears are repeatedly subjected to very loud sound, the cilia closest to the eardrum - and the noise source – will actually wilt, keel over and die. Cilia do not regenerate, so lengthy exposure to damaging sounds eventually creates bare patches inside the cochlea, where a carpet of sound-transmitting cilia should be swaying in the cochlear fluid.

The cilia closest to the eardrum, the first to be damaged by noise exposure, are those that transmit high-frequency sounds, which are critical to understanding speech. Some of the first perceptible signs of hearing loss are when speech sounds garbled and mumbled. This inner-ear damage is irreversible, though hearing aids or cochlear implants may help restore some level of hearing.

SMALL EARS ARE MOST VULNERABLE

Children's smaller ear canals make them more vulnerable to loud noise because sound is louder in a smaller space.

“The physics of it is that sound is louder in a smaller cavity,” Oyler said. “When we are fitting hearing aids in kids, we have to be very careful, as settings can be many decibels higher in a child’s ear than in an adult’s ear.”

And while hearing loss is cumulative, the most rapid loss takes place in the first ten years of exposure to damaging sound.

“If somebody is exposed to loud sounds over a significant portion of their life, say from age ten to 40 years, they will lose more hearing in the first ten year than in the last ten years,” said Dr. Brian Fligor, Director of Diagnostic Audiology at Children’s Hospital in Boston.

“Imagine a 15-year-old who gets an MP3 player and is not taught to safely use the device,” Fligor said. “That 15-year-old, by the time he’s 25, could have the hearing of a 55 to 60 year old man.”

Fligor is no alarmist. He’s in his 30s, a former rock musician and devoted iPod owner, and, like many of his young research subjects, he likes to listen loud. He research has helped debunk some of the scarier early reports on MP3-related dangers, and his guidelines for responsible volume settings are more generous than those of many other audiologists.

But he also foresees hundreds of thousands of young people trading in their earbuds for hearing aids in the coming years.

BOYS LISTEN LOUDER

Fligor’s research on teens’ music listening patterns shows that as many as 24 percent of teenagers routinely crank their MP3 players up to unsafe levels, with boys being far more likely to abuse their hearing than girls

“In my personal opinion, from years of research and reading the literature, I think we are talking about a prevalence of hearing loss in ½ of 1 percent of (MP3 player) users,” Fligor said. “But with 100 million people regularly using headphones, that’s 500,000 people. That’s a lot of people. And I think that’s a safely conservative estimate.”

Fligor’s research has debunked the old rule of thumb that MP3 players were set too loud if you could hear them from three feet away. “We proved that to be false,” Fligor said. “There’s no connection between what you hear from the outside and the decibel level. It all depends on the type of earphones they’re using.”

LISTENING GUIDELINES

The guideline that a kid should be able to hear normal conversation in the room without removing the earbuds “is not bad, but I think a little on the overprotective side,” he said. “Also, it requires that you do the monitoring, and that the kid listen to your advice.”

Instead, Fligor supports what he calls the 80 – 90 rule. “If you set the volume control at 80 percent, and listen for 90 minutes a day, or less, that is appropriate for every MP3 player out there, using the headphones that came with it.”

Anne Oyler recommends setting the volume at 50 percent for a better margin of safety.

Santa Cruz Audiologist Dana Orlando tells her patients that, no matter what the volume setting, if their ears ring, or feel numb, or full, or “different” after they remove their headset, “then that is absolutely too loud, and they should never go up to that volume again.”

“I ask them to wait until it’s quiet, like when they’re in bed right before they go to sleep,” Orlando said. “If they hear ringing, buzzing or hissing in their ears, that probably indicates hearing damage.”

Most MP3 players on the market put out around 105 decibels of sound at full volume. At that level, listeners have about seven minutes of full-throttle enjoyment before ear damage begins. That translates to a song or two, according to Fligor.

LIFELONG CONSEQUENCES

Hearing loss is irreversible, and has been shown to reduce a young person’s school achievement, career prospects and lifetime earnings. Even mild hearing loss can be frustrating and socially isolating. The Centers for Disease Control this year added noise-induced hearing loss to the list of threats to young people’s health, along with obesity, skin cancer, and drug abuse.

But the news isn’t all bad. If Fligor’s research holds true, more than 75 percent of teens are not routinely turning their iPod volume up too loud. Most of them are smart and teachable enough to voluntarily care for their hearing. And for those who aren’t, Apple now includes a password-protected volume-level limiter in its iPod products.

And there’s even a positive spin to introducing younger kids to MP3 players. The younger the child, the more open she is to learning to using it responsibly.

“Pretty much all of public health research indicates that if you want to change knowledge, attitudes and behavior, start early,” said Dr.William Martin, professor at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, and creator of the Dangerous Decibels public health campaign. “If you wait until they’re in high school, it’s too late. Fourth graders respond extremely well to information on risky behavior, but by 7^th grade you’re already seeing tremendous resistance.”

There are some exceptions, however. One study that trained high school students to teach younger kids about the dangers of hearing loss was extremely effective in changing behavior -- of the high school students.

“Teens hate hypocrisy,” Martin said. “But when the message is coming from them, they know it’s not hypocritical.”

DEAL WITH IT

Parents can do their part by setting and enforcing listening limits, and by modeling good behavior of their own. Don’t abuse your own iPod. Wear earplugs at concerts and loud sporting events. Protect your ears when moving the lawn, using power tools or shooting a gun. Buy toys and appliances with the lowest noise ratings. Turn down the TV.

Accept that new technology brings new problems, and do what it takes to make sure your kids aren’t physically damaged.

“The fact is that the iPod is a cultural icon,” Martin said in a recent telephone interview. “I’m in Boston right now, and probably 30 percent of the people walking by are using them. They’ve become a hallmark of our society, and also, they’re a great product.

“You can have thousands of songs, and 40 hours of uninterrupted listening at over 100 decibels,” Martin said. “It’s fantastic. The fact that we don’t know how to use it safely yet doesn’t surprise me. You can’t blame the product. Parents need to know how to get their kids the information and training before they have a problem.”

Long story short, I bought my daughter an iPod for her birthday. We talked seriously about hearing loss, set the volume limiter, and cut a deal on appropriate use. And she complied with every rule and request for five months, until the day I ran her cherry-red iPod Nano through the washing machine. Damn. Now I owe her a new one, and that means I won’t be buying one for myself, at least until next year.

For more information on noise-induced hearing loss, check out ASHA's kid-friendly Listen to Your Buds website, the Dangerous Decibels website, and the National Institutes of Health's Noisy Planet website. While you're on the web, check out more of Dr. Fligor's research, and read about the Musicians' Hearing Program at Children's Hospital Boston.

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SantaCruzWire.com

And those ubiquitous earbuds are increasingly being wedged into the ears of young children. My daughter recently complained that she was one of only three kids in her 5^th grade class who didn’t have an iPod. Some of her classmates have owned portable MP3 players for years.

I resisted her pleas. We wear sunscreen and bike helmets, and keep fresh batteries in the smoke detectors. Why would I hand my kid a device capable of blasting 105 decibels directly into her eardrums?

SEDUCTIVE MARKETING VS PUBLIC HEALTH

Research on noise-induced hearing loss has been outpaced by technology, and public health warnings have been swamped by a tidal wave of seductive marketing. But beneath the hype, a picture is emerging of the real risks, and the unfounded fears, of inserting those earbuds and cranking the volume.

Recent research indicates that teens listen louder than adults, boys listen louder than girls, and that kids who think they are at risk for hearing loss actually crank up the volume louder than their peers. Teenagers. Go figure.

KILLING THE CILIA

SMALL EARS ARE MOST VULNERABLE

Children's smaller ear canals make them more vulnerable to loud noise because sound is louder in a smaller space.

“The physics of it is that sound is louder in a smaller cavity,” Oyler said. “When we are fitting hearing aids in kids, we have to be very careful, as settings can be many decibels higher in a child’s ear than in an adult’s ear.”

And while hearing loss is cumulative, the most rapid loss takes place in the first ten years of exposure to damaging sound.

“If somebody is exposed to loud sounds over a significant portion of their life, say from age ten to 40 years, they will lose more hearing in the first ten year than in the last ten years,” said Dr. Brian Fligor, Director of Diagnostic Audiology at Children’s Hospital in Boston.

“Imagine a 15-year-old who gets an MP3 player and is not taught to safely use the device,” Fligor said. “That 15-year-old, by the time he’s 25, could have the hearing of a 55 to 60 year old man.”

But he also foresees hundreds of thousands of young people trading in their earbuds for hearing aids in the coming years.

BOYS LISTEN LOUDER

Fligor’s research on teens’ music listening patterns shows that as many as 24 percent of teenagers routinely crank their MP3 players up to unsafe levels, with boys being far more likely to abuse their hearing than girls

LISTENING GUIDELINES

The guideline that a kid should be able to hear normal conversation in the room without removing the earbuds “is not bad, but I think a little on the overprotective side,” he said. “Also, it requires that you do the monitoring, and that the kid listen to your advice.”

Instead, Fligor supports what he calls the 80 – 90 rule. “If you set the volume control at 80 percent, and listen for 90 minutes a day, or less, that is appropriate for every MP3 player out there, using the headphones that came with it.”

Anne Oyler recommends setting the volume at 50 percent for a better margin of safety.

Santa Cruz Audiologist Dana Orlando tells her patients that, no matter what the volume setting, if their ears ring, or feel numb, or full, or “different” after they remove their headset, “then that is absolutely too loud, and they should never go up to that volume again.”

“I ask them to wait until it’s quiet, like when they’re in bed right before they go to sleep,” Orlando said. “If they hear ringing, buzzing or hissing in their ears, that probably indicates hearing damage.”

Most MP3 players on the market put out around 105 decibels of sound at full volume. At that level, listeners have about seven minutes of full-throttle enjoyment before ear damage begins. That translates to a song or two, according to Fligor.

LIFELONG CONSEQUENCES

And there’s even a positive spin to introducing younger kids to MP3 players. The younger the child, the more open she is to learning to using it responsibly.

There are some exceptions, however. One study that trained high school students to teach younger kids about the dangers of hearing loss was extremely effective in changing behavior -- of the high school students.

“Teens hate hypocrisy,” Martin said. “But when the message is coming from them, they know it’s not hypocritical.”

DEAL WITH IT

Accept that new technology brings new problems, and do what it takes to make sure your kids aren’t physically damaged.

“The fact is that the iPod is a cultural icon,” Martin said in a recent telephone interview. “I’m in Boston right now, and probably 30 percent of the people walking by are using them. They’ve become a hallmark of our society, and also, they’re a great product.

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SantaCruzWire.com

And those ubiquitous earbuds are increasingly being wedged into the ears of young children. My daughter recently complained that she was one of only three kids in her 5th grade class who didn’t have an iPod. Some of her classmates have owned portable MP3 players for years.

I resisted her pleas. We wear sunscreen and bike helmets, and keep fresh batteries in the smoke detectors. Why would I hand my kid a device capable of blasting 105 decibels directly into her eardrums?

SEDUCTIVE MARKETING VS PUBLIC HEALTH

Research on noise-induced hearing loss has been outpaced by technology, and public health warnings have been swamped by a tidal wave of seductive marketing. But beneath the hype, a picture is emerging of the real risks, and the unfounded fears, of inserting those earbuds and cranking the volume.

Recent research indicates that teens listen louder than adults, boys listen louder than girls, and that kids who think they are at risk for hearing loss actually crank up the volume louder than their peers. Teenagers. Go figure.

KILLING THE CILIA

SMALL EARS ARE MOST VULNERABLE

Children's smaller ear canals make them more vulnerable to loud noise because sound is louder in a smaller space.

“The physics of it is that sound is louder in a smaller cavity,” Oyler said. “When we are fitting hearing aids in kids, we have to be very careful, as settings can be many decibels higher in a child’s ear than in an adult’s ear.”

And while hearing loss is cumulative, the most rapid loss takes place in the first ten years of exposure to damaging sound.

“If somebody is exposed to loud sounds over a significant portion of their life, say from age ten to 40 years, they will lose more hearing in the first ten year than in the last ten years,” said Dr. Brian Fligor, Director of Diagnostic Audiology at Children’s Hospital in Boston.

“Imagine a 15-year-old who gets an MP3 player and is not taught to safely use the device,” Fligor said. “That 15-year-old, by the time he’s 25, could have the hearing of a 55 to 60 year old man.”

But he also foresees hundreds of thousands of young people trading in their earbuds for hearing aids in the coming years.

BOYS LISTEN LOUDER

Fligor’s research on teens’ music listening patterns shows that as many as 24 percent of teenagers routinely crank their MP3 players up to unsafe levels, with boys being far more likely to abuse their hearing than girls

LISTENING GUIDELINES

The guideline that a kid should be able to hear normal conversation in the room without removing the earbuds “is not bad, but I think a little on the overprotective side,” he said. “Also, it requires that you do the monitoring, and that the kid listen to your advice.”

Instead, Fligor supports what he calls the 80 – 90 rule. “If you set the volume control at 80 percent, and listen for 90 minutes a day, or less, that is appropriate for every MP3 player out there, using the headphones that came with it.”

Anne Oyler recommends setting the volume at 50 percent for a better margin of safety.

Santa Cruz Audiologist Dana Orlando tells her patients that, no matter what the volume setting, if their ears ring, or feel numb, or full, or “different” after they remove their headset, “then that is absolutely too loud, and they should never go up to that volume again.”

“I ask them to wait until it’s quiet, like when they’re in bed right before they go to sleep,” Orlando said. “If they hear ringing, buzzing or hissing in their ears, that probably indicates hearing damage.”

Most MP3 players on the market put out around 105 decibels of sound at full volume. At that level, listeners have about seven minutes of full-throttle enjoyment before ear damage begins. That translates to a song or two, according to Fligor.

LIFELONG CONSEQUENCES

And there’s even a positive spin to introducing younger kids to MP3 players. The younger the child, the more open she is to learning to using it responsibly.

There are some exceptions, however. One study that trained high school students to teach younger kids about the dangers of hearing loss was extremely effective in changing behavior -- of the high school students.

“Teens hate hypocrisy,” Martin said. “But when the message is coming from them, they know it’s not hypocritical.”

DEAL WITH IT

Accept that new technology brings new problems, and do what it takes to make sure your kids aren’t physically damaged.

“The fact is that the iPod is a cultural icon,” Martin said in a recent telephone interview. “I’m in Boston right now, and probably 30 percent of the people walking by are using them. They’ve become a hallmark of our society, and also, they’re a great product.

Main Menu

Search

Write Us!

And those ubiquitous earbuds are increasingly being wedged into the ears of young children. My daughter recently complained that she was one of only three kids in her 5^th grade class who didn’t have an iPod. Some of her classmates have owned portable MP3 players for years.