Music and Headphones: What’s a Healthy Volume?

Woman with long dark hair relaxing in a chair in the park listening to headphones

Aiden loves music. While he’s out jogging, he’s listening to Pandora, while working it’s Spotify, and he has a playlist for everything he does: gaming, cooking, gym time, and everything else. His headphones are almost always on, his life a totally soundtracked event. But irreversible hearing damage might be happening as a result of the very loud immersive music he loves.

As far as your ears are concerned, there are healthy ways to listen to music and hazardous ways to listen to music. However, most of us opt for the more dangerous listening choice.

How can hearing loss be caused by listening to music?

Your ability to hear can be damaged over time by exposure to loud noise. We’re accustomed to thinking of hearing loss as a problem associated with aging, but more and more research reveals that it’s really the accumulation of noise-induced damage that is the issue here and not anything intrinsic to the aging process.

Younger ears that are still developing are, as it turns out, more susceptible to noise-related damage. And yet, the long-term harm from high volume is more likely to be disregarded by younger adults. So there’s an epidemic of younger people with hearing loss thanks, in part, to high volume headphone use.

Can you enjoy music safely?

It’s obviously hazardous to listen to music at max volume. But simply turning the volume down is a less dangerous way to listen. Here are a couple of basic guidelines:

  • For adults: Keep the volume at no more than 80dB and for no more than 40 hours per week..
  • For teens and young children: You can still listen for 40 hours, but keep the volume level below 75dB.

About five hours and forty minutes per day will give you about forty hours every week. That seems like a lot, but it can go by fairly quickly. But we’re trained to keep track of time our entire lives so the majority of us are rather good at it.

The more challenging part is keeping track of your volume. Volume isn’t measured in decibels on most smart devices like TVs, computers, and smartphones. Each device has its own arbitrary scale. Perhaps it’s 1-100. But perhaps it’s 1-16. You might not have a clue how close to max volume you are or even what max volume on your device is.

How can you track the volume of your music?

It’s not really easy to know how loud 80 decibels is, but thankfully there are a few non-intrusive ways to know how loud the volume is. Differentiating 75 from, let’s say, 80 decibels is even more perplexing.

So using one of the numerous noise free monitoring apps is highly advisable. These apps, widely available for both iPhone and Android devices, will give you real-time readouts on the noises around you. In this way, you can make real-time adjustments while monitoring your actual dB level. Your smartphone will, with the correct settings, let you know when the volume gets too loud.

As loud as a garbage disposal

Generally speaking, 80 dB is about as loud as your garbage disposal or your dishwasher. That’s not too loud. It’s an important observation because 80dB is about as much noise as your ears can handle without damage.

So you’ll want to be extra mindful of those times at which you’re going beyond that volume threshold. And limit your exposure if you do listen to music over 80dB. Perhaps listen to your favorite song at max volume instead of the entire album.

Over time, loud listening will cause hearing issues. You can develop hearing loss and tinnitus. The more you can be cognizant of when your ears are going into the danger zone, the more educated your decision-making can be. And hopefully, those decisions lean towards safer listening.

Still have questions about keeping your ears safe? Call us to go over more options.

The site information is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. To receive personalized advice or treatment, schedule an appointment.

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