Hear this: Turn down tunes to save your ears
Mary Owen, a graduate student in audiology at the University of Northern Colorado, sometimes goes to schools to screen children and teens for hearing loss. When she does, she takes along a friend — a fashionably-dressed mannequin equipped with a silicon ear and a sound meter.
Owen invites students to place ear buds from their MP3 players or smart phones in the mannequin's ear, turn on their music and watch the sound meter.
The result: many learn they are listening to music at volumes high enough to damage their hearing.
Simply turn down the volume, Owen tells them, and they can listen safely.
"What they do with the information is up to them, but I do think it changes the behavior of a lot of the teens I talk to," Owen says.
Changing the listening habits of young people has become an urgent matter, says the World Health Organization. In a new education campaign, the WHO is warning that 1 billion people ages 12-35 are putting their hearing at risk with unsafe use of personal audio devices and exposure to noise at concerts, bars and other venues.
The WHO campaign joins ongoing efforts, including Dangerous Decibels, the U.S. program in which Owen participates; Listen to Your Buds, a campaign run by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), and Turn it to the Left (a reference to turning down the volume) from the American Academy of Audiology.
All are attempting to educate device-mad young people that their beloved ear buds and headphones can damage hearing when set at full volume, typically around 100 decibels. Any sound over 85 decibels can damage hearing, experts say, and the longer and more often you listen, the more damage you can do.
To be safe, you should turn your volume down to no more than 60% of the maximum, the WHO suggests. Limiting listening to an hour a day also would help, WHO says — though hearing experts say longer use is OK if volumes are set low enough.
It's easier to stay in the safe zone if you use volume locks on audio devices, headphones with volume limits or noise-cancelling headphones — which block outside noises, making music easier to hear — says Dangerous Decibels co-director Deanna Meinke, a professor of audiology at the University of Northern Colorado.
Audiologists also recommend people use ear plugs at loud events and keep their distance from loudspeakers.
The question: is anyone listening?
"It will take time," Meinke says. "I didn't wear seatbelts as a child when riding in a car, or a bike helmet when riding a bike; those changes have happened and the use of hearing protection will undergo the same acceptance over time."
Many of the educational efforts are aimed at children because "it's easier to create a healthy habit than to overcome unhealthy habits," says Joseph Cerquone, director of public relations at ASHA.
It's also easiest to grab kids with positive messages, he says. That's why the Listen to Your Buds program features musicians who go to schools and play up the joy of safe listening, he says.
Young people who don't get the message in time can damage their hearing for life without realizing it, says Neil DiSarno, ASHA's chief staff officer for audiology.
When he worked as an audiologist in Missouri, he says, he sometimes saw young children with serious hearing loss who had been to gun shooting ranges without hearing protection. Regular doses of loud music can cause the same kind of harm, he says.
It's very sad, DiSarno says, to "tell a child who might be nine years old that they will never be a policeman, they will never be a pilot, they will never be an air traffic controller," because some of their hearing is gone for good.
How loud is too loud?
Any sound over 85 decibels can damage your hearing. The louder the noise, the more quickly damage occurs. Here's how some common sounds measure up, according to the American Academy of Audiology:
• 60 decibels: normal conversations, dishwashers.
• 80 decibels: alarm clocks.
• 90 decibels: hair dryers, blenders, and lawnmowers
• 100 decibels: MP3 players at full volume
• 110 decibels: concerts, car racing, and sporting events
• 120 decibels: jet planes at take off
• 130 decibels: ambulances and fire engine sirens
• 140 decibels: gun shots, fireworks, and custom car stereos at full volume
The academy recommends turning audio devices down to safe levels and wearing hearing protection when you must be around noises louder than 85 decibels for any extended period. It also recommends walking away from loud noises when you can.