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How Safe Are Headphones
Many buyers are wondering, "How safe are in ear headphones?". It is an important question seeing as consumers is going to be using them every day and will also be prone to possible irritation of poor fitting ear buds and also the sensitivity of exposure to noise. It is a genuine concern for moms and dads their children have headphones that have volume control, comfortable fitting and strong construction; yet how about the rest of us? Do we have to be careful by what earphones we use? Do you know 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 likelihood 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 variety of measures which may be come to ensure that your eardrums are secure 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 Music player for approximately 4.Six hours at 70 % volume without causing too much harm to the ear or causing any detrimental hearing loss. Yet, should you listen to the music at full volume for more than A few minutes while using earphones supplied within the box, the audiologists say, could boost the hearing loss inside a typical person.
Often it is the case that a person will raise the amount of their music going through their stock headphones (i.e. the headphones or earphones that included the MP3 or smartphones) because of external noise and this might be a factor to why the amount could be resulted in to max along with a injury to your ear drums. Yet it's not necessary to stick to the stock headphones which is worth considering earphones or headphones that are tested safe. There's also features to look out for when purchasing to help make your decision making process as easy as possible.
So what can I do to ensure my headphones are as safe as possible?
Volume Control
We all have 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 looking for kids' headphones as parents need to be certain the kids do not have their music too loud. It is also useful to the runners amongst because the have to be fully aware of the surroundings when approaching main roads and busy areas, so having an easy functioning volume control setting around the headphones won't be good for the ears, however your general awareness too.
Fit
Make sure that you possess a comfortable fit. Often people worry that earphones are 'air tight' and may damage the ear because of excessive sound and vibration of the ear drum. This isn't necessary the situation when you are more likely to damage the ear drum by having music on full volume due to not fitting instead of having tighter ear canal earphones that are noise isolating and therefore are louder with 70 percent volume, for instance. There are many kinds of headphones and earphones available. On ear, in ear, over ear, ear hook, noise isolating and noise reducing earphones are moulds you would be acquainted with yet it is all trial and error as ear canal sizes differentiates for the individual. That which you find comfortable, may irritate another person. Search the net for noise isolating earphones and check out out a number of earphones.
Noise Isolation
The objective of noise-isolating headphones is to drown out external noises such as other people 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 suggest? Noise isolating earphones are generally air tight earphones, also known as ear canal earphones. You will find concerns that air tight earphones could damage the ear drum, but according to audiologists this is not the situation. The sound loudness may be the key for hearing problems not compactness. The ear drum should really vibrate after all.
The Individual
At the end of your day it might get down to the person. Some people have tougher ears than others based on Portnuff. He continued to express in his article 'Researchers Recommend Safe Listening Levels for iPod' that "it is important to note,... that does not everyone shares exactly 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
To sum up, well fitting in ear (ear canal) earphones or over ear headphones with noise isolation are the safest bet. The conventional MP3 headphones which come inside the box don't fit too and have smaller drivers anyway. They weren't made in the very best interest from the user, just a cheaper solution for that MP3 company.
Portnuff summed it up when proclaiming 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 loss of hearing so surely investing in noise reducing earphones is essential for just about any audiophile.
The most well-known musicians and composers have admitted that overuse of the headphones is responsible for permanent damage to their ears, yet these were exposed to loud noise through their headphones for elongated periods of time. For us that use headphones on the gym in order to get in our very own little world then it should be remembered that ear canal earphones would be best though not on maximum volume.
