It has been over 10 years since the development of MP3 players, which have¬ seen large numbers of sales because of the popularity of downloadable music. Most of these devices are shipped with “in ear” headphones that sit directly in the ear canal. These can be dangerous because of the volumes the players can reach. The volume can become so high that it matches some of the environments in which users would have to wear ear defenders to prevent damage to their hearing. Some MP3 players can reach 120 decibels, which is at the same level as an aircraft taking off or 15 decibels more than that of a pneumatic drill.
However the volume is not only the key factor here, the length of time the user is listening to these devices is on the increase. As technology has increased over the last decade, these products have become smaller or integrated with other devices. For the most part in phones meaning that they are being used on a more constant basis; in the workplace, at home, in the gym or during commuting. The main reason behind the increase of use is simply the ease of use of the device and their storage capacity of up to 40,000 songs. Having a large amount of storage allows users to upload their whole library to the device, therefore always having something that they will want to listen.
There are ways to protect our ears from this source of potential damage, the first of which is to simply understand and identify that an MP3 device can do damage to our ears. As more and more people have them, it has become second nature to pick up the MP3 player, put the headphones in and carry on with whatever task you were planning to do.
The second way is to simply turn the volume of the device down. It may be obvious, but by simply turning the volume down by a small amount the potential damage to your ears can be reduced, but this is indeed the case.
The third way is to increase the amount of breaks and the length of these breaks when using the MP3 device which allows your ears to recover. This will reduce the potential damage to your ears also.
The fourth way is to change the type of earphones that are used, from the usual “in ear” ones which are supplied with the device, to either ones that cover the whole ear or by having “noise cancelling” earphones. Both of these allow the user to reduce the volume they have to listen to the MP3 device.
This has hopefully identified an increasing problem but by following these steps you will help to protect your ears and enable you to keep listening to your music for longer.