Music: The Joy That Kills?
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Many of you have probably been to concerts, or maybe some of you are musicians, but no matter who you are, almost all of you have listened to loud music using ear bud style headphones at one point or another in your life. What you might not have known is that listening to music is a very serious issue all over the world, especially with teenagers in this generation. I have some experience because I am a high schooler, and I can often hear people walking with headphones in, and sometimes I can even hear their music. Before I researched this situation, I was also guilty of listening to high volumes of music, but now I know better. By making yourself aware of the threats of music you can protect yourself from future hearing loss. Many studies have shown that listening to music can cause serious hearing loss, but most people don�t know about it, refuse to accept it, or they are simply doing nothing to stop it.
First off, before discussing the many causes of hearing loss and how to protect yourself, you need to understand how hearing loss actually works. We have many tiny hair cells in our inner ears. They change sounds into electronic signals. Then, nerves carry the signals to the brain where we can interpret them as noises. These hair cells are very fragile and can be easily damaged by loud sounds; they overload and die completely. Once the hairs die, they can never be reproduced or fixed, so this results in permanent hearing loss. Sound is measured in decibels (dB), from a scale of 0-180. Any sounds above 85 decibels is dangerous to your hearing. Concerts are generally 110dB-120dB. It�s 140dB if you are directly in front of the speakers. Even listening to music through headphones is 110dB. Because noise is everywhere and is generally loud, there are lots of simple things that can harm your hearing. (MedlinePlus)
Some jobs and activities that can be dangerous include working at night clubs, being a sound crew member, a recording engineer, attending concerts (120dB), listening to music with earphones (110dB), being a musician, or even just children in a school band depending on what instrument they play. Those who attend or are in symphonic orchestras are exposed to about 120-137dB of sound. According to Jonel Aleccia from NBC News, musicians are actually four times more likely to have noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). Trevor Specht, a professional musician for the past twenty five years from Maryland says, �I play saxophone, but I�m standing next to the drums and the cymbals are at ear level. Almost every musician I know has hearing loss, even if they won�t admit it.� (NBC News).
Some people are in denial that music actually causes hearing loss, or they refuse to change their listening behaviors. This has become more and more common with teenagers in this generation. A study done by the Siemen Hearing Industry showed that 78% of teens have been told by parents or teachers to lower their music volume or wear hearing protection, yet 81% of teens still listen to dangerous volumes of music. The study also shows that 46% of teens show signs of NIHL and 17% (1 in every 6 teens) constantly have ringing, roaring, buzzing, or pain in their ears. Mary Florentine, an audiologist at Northeastern University, says that they tend to develop what is called �loud music dependency disorder (LMDD)�. She asked them:
why they continued to expose themselves to loud music even though they knew it was harming their hearing, and they said they couldn't stop listening. They said, �When I stop listening I get sad and depressed, and then I go back to it because I can't take it after a while. I start listening again at moderate levels, but it doesn't do anything for me, so I start to listen at high levels.'Most teens use ear bud style headphones to listen to music. The National Institute of Health has even said that, �any type of headphone has the potential to cause [noise-induced hearing loss] if used improperly in terms of absolute level of the sounds, the length of exposure time to sound, and the fit of the earphone or headphone.� Earphones are especially dangerous because the sound goes directly into your ear canal, and since they don�t block out outside noises that much, people end up turning the volume up very high. But why do teenagers keep listening to music if it will hurt their hearing and they know that that will happen? Because they believe that medical technology will find a way to restore their hearing (WebMD), but so far, it�s impossible. Out of all the kids from ages 6-19, 12.5% of them have noise-induced hearing loss. That's about 5.2 million kids that already have hearing problems (WebMD). Remember, headphones can generally produce 120-137 decibels of sound. This is at least 30 decibels above the safe volume limit of 85 decibels.
You may be wondering why we even need to be worrying about this. Hearing aids are getting better, and there are many different factors that can result in hearing loss. Why do we just need to worry about music? As long as you are a responsible music listener, then you don�t have much to worry about besides hearing loss that develops with age. There are many headphones on the market now that offer noise cancellation. If there are less outside noises, then the listener will most likely listen at a lower decibel level (Fligor, Better Hearing Institute). There are also some headphones that restrict the volume levels, so kids can�t damage their hearing as easily. Musicians can even get special custom made earphones for themselves. Although there are many ways to prevent hearing loss, most people don�t even recognize that this is an issue, so there are still many people that will get hearing loss because of music. You also have to remember that our world is moving into an age of technology that�s advancing, giving us newer and easier ways to access media and music.
This generation is being born into a world full of technology. Music is all around us now and teenagers are hooked on it. There has been an alarming increase of hearing loss in teens, and that number will continue to increase unless people start becoming aware of this issue and doing something to stop it. If everyone knew how to protect themselves against hearing loss and there wasn�t so much of it, then other issues could be taken care of. But the truth is, that will not happen very soon. Many people are completely unaware of the sounds around them and how it might be affecting their lives.
Can you see now that this is a bigger issue than we realize? I certainly do! Music is all around us; it�s creating a new generation of hearing loss. Some doctors have already started to raise awareness. William Martin, the co-director of the Dangerous Decibels Project, has created a program with the Oregon Museum of Science to train kids, parents, and teachers about the threats of noise-induced hearing loss. The three most practical ways to deal with loud music is to turn it down, walk away, or protect your ears. The next time you�re sitting in the bus and you can hear another person�s music through their earphones, tell him or her to turn it down. Helping the community is as simple as raising awareness and telling people to turn down their music. Will you take a stand?
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Conclusion (edited 11/9/14)
Hearing loss caused by music has been a serious issue all around the world. People are not using it appropriately like a good digital citizen, and the result is permanent hearing loss. They either don't realize it's an issue, refuse to except it, or are doing nothing to stop it. Reading and responding to all of the comments further convinced me that not many believe that this is an issue. Most of the comments said that they knew about the topic, but they weren't aware of the facts and the full consequences. Some of the comments helped me to see more details involved in the issue. For example, one person asked if listening to a certain type of music could increase or decrease the risk of hearing loss. I had to do further research to answer questions like these that I had not thought of. The result I found for this was question was no, but I also found benefits to listening to music. Music without lyrics can actually help you focus as long as the volume is not too loud, of course. This made me rethink my counter argument. I realized that there were could reasons why music could be good for you, but it did not change my stand on this issue. The bad outweighs the good, and I will probably not change what I think.Overall, the whole blogging process was fun, but when leaving comments on other blogs, it sometimes did not work. It would take several times before it published. It was very frustrating when I didn't copy my comment and it didn't publish. I had to completely retype it again, but overall, creating a blog and leaving or responding to comments was a great experience.
Conclusion (edited 11/9/14)
Hearing loss caused by music has been a serious issue all around the world. People are not using it appropriately like a good digital citizen, and the result is permanent hearing loss. They either don't realize it's an issue, refuse to except it, or are doing nothing to stop it. Reading and responding to all of the comments further convinced me that not many believe that this is an issue. Most of the comments said that they knew about the topic, but they weren't aware of the facts and the full consequences. Some of the comments helped me to see more details involved in the issue. For example, one person asked if listening to a certain type of music could increase or decrease the risk of hearing loss. I had to do further research to answer questions like these that I had not thought of. The result I found for this was question was no, but I also found benefits to listening to music. Music without lyrics can actually help you focus as long as the volume is not too loud, of course. This made me rethink my counter argument. I realized that there were could reasons why music could be good for you, but it did not change my stand on this issue. The bad outweighs the good, and I will probably not change what I think.Overall, the whole blogging process was fun, but when leaving comments on other blogs, it sometimes did not work. It would take several times before it published. It was very frustrating when I didn't copy my comment and it didn't publish. I had to completely retype it again, but overall, creating a blog and leaving or responding to comments was a great experience.
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