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How Safe Are Headphones

Many buyers are wondering, "How safe have been in ear headphones?". It's an important question since consumers will be using them every day and will also be susceptible to possible irritation of poor fitting ear buds and also the sensitivity of loud noises. It's a genuine concern for moms and dads their children have headphones which have volume control, comfortable fitting and strong construction; yet how about average folks? Do we need to be careful by what earphones we use? What are the chances of causing ear damage using bad earphones? Within this article I shall try to explore those questions and evaluate whether over exposure could be detrimental for your hearing.

Do you know the chances of causing ear damage?

The chances of damaging your ear drums obviously depends to the period of time coming in contact with loud noises, yet there are a number of measures which can be taken to make sure that your eardrums are safe from ear pollution.

In the article 'Researchers Recommend Safe Listening Levels for iPod' audiologists Portnuff and Fligor estimate that a person can safely make use of an MP3 player for approximately 4.6 hours at 70 % volume without causing too much harm to the ear or causing any detrimental hearing problems. Yet, should you listen to the background music at full volume for more than A few minutes using the earphones supplied in the box, the audiologists say, could increase the hearing problems in a typical person.

Often it is the case that a person will raise the volume of their music dealing with their stock headphones (i.e. the headphones or earphones that included the MP3 or smartphones) because of external noise and this could be a factor to why the amount could be turned up to max along with a injury to your ear drums. Yet it's not necessary to stick with the stock headphones and it is worth taking into consideration earphones or headphones which are tested to be safe. There are also features to look out when ever purchasing to help make the decision making process as simple as possible.

What can I do to ensure my headphones are as safe as possible?

Volume Control

Everyone has volume control features on our MP3's or Smartphone's yet many headphones come with the additional feature of getting volume control settings. Many of the useful when shopping for kids' headphones as parents need to be sure that the children do not have their music too loud. It is also useful to the runners amongst because the have to be fully conscious of the surroundings when approaching main roads and busy areas, so having an easy functioning volume control setting on the headphones will not only be great for the ears, however your general awareness too.

Headphones

Fit

Ensure that you possess a comfortable fit. Often people worry that earphones are 'air tight' and may damage the ear due to excessive sound and vibration of the ear drum. This isn't necessary the case as you are more prone to damage the ear drum by having music on full volume due to not fitting rather than having tighter ear canal earphones which are noise isolating and therefore are louder with 70 % volume, for instance. There are many types of headphones and earphones available. On ear, in ear, over ear, ear hook, noise isolating and noise reducing earphones are moulds you'd be acquainted with yet it's all learning from mistakes as ear canal sizes differentiates for the individual. That which you find comfortable, may irritate someone else. Search the net for noise isolating earphones and check out out numerous earphones.

Noise Isolation

The purpose of noise-isolating headphones is to drown out external noises such as others talking, or any external noises which may be heard whilst wearing headphones. A lot of earphones are advertised as being 'noise isolating' earphones. Yet exactly what does this mean? Noise isolating earphones are generally air tight earphones, also known as ear canal earphones. There are concerns that air tight earphones could damage the ear drum, but based on audiologists this isn't the case. The sound loudness is the key for hearing problems not compactness. The ear drum is supposed to vibrate after all.

The person

At the end of the day it could come down to the person. Some people have tougher ears than others based on Portnuff. He went on to express in the article 'Researchers Recommend Safe Listening Levels for iPod' that "it is important to note,... that does not everyone shares the same risk of hearing loss". He believes those that have "tougher" ears are less susceptible to ear damage compared to those with "tender" ears.

"Hearing loss occurs slowly and is often not noticed until it is quite extensive, so early prevention is the key".

Conclusion

In conclusion, well fitting in ear (ear canal) earphones or higher ear headphones with noise isolation would be the safest bet. The conventional MP3 headphones that come within the box don't fit as well and also have smaller drivers anyway. They were not made in the very best interest from the user, just a cheaper solution for that MP3 company.

Portnuff summed it up when stating that "hearing loss occurs slowly and it is often not noticed until it is quite extensive, so early prevention may be the key". Over contact with loud music using cheap stock earphones might cause lack of hearing so surely purchasing noise reducing earphones is important for just about any audiophile.

Even the most well-known musicians and composers have admitted that overuse of the headphones has caused permanent damage to their ears, yet they were exposed to loud noise through their headphones for elongated periods of time. For all of us that use headphones down the gym in order to get in our own little world then it ought to be remembered that ear canal earphones would be best yet not on maximum volume.