Can loud music damage your hearing Heather Malyuk
After a three-hour concert by her
favorite Norwegian metal band,
Anja finds it difficult to hear
her friend rave about the show.
It sounds like he’s speaking
from across the room,
and it’s tough to make out his muted voice
over the ringing in her ears.
By the next morning,
the effect has mostly worn off,
but Anja still has questions.
What caused the symptoms?
Is her hearing going to fully recover?
And can she still go to concerts
without damaging her ears?
To answer these questions,
we first need to understand what sound is
and how we hear it.
Like a pebble creating ripples in water,
sound is created when displaced molecules
vibrate through space.
While sound vibrations can travel
through solids and liquids,
our ears have evolved to process
vibrations in the air.
These waves of air pressure enter
our ear canals and bounce off the eardrum.
A trio of bones called the ossicular chain
then carries those vibrations
into the cochlea,
transforming waves of air pressure
into waves of cochlear fluid.
Here, our perception of sound
begins to take form.
The waves of fluid move
the basilar membrane,
a tissue lined with tens of thousands
of hair cells.
The specific vibration of these hair cells
and the stereocilia on top of each one
determine the auditory signal
our brain perceives.
Unfortunately, these essential cells
are also quite vulnerable.
There are two properties of sound
that can damage these cells.
The first is volume.
The louder a sound is, the greater
the pressure of its vibrations.
While the ear’s upper limits vary
from person to person,
close range exposure to sound
exceeding 120 decibels
can instantly bend or blow out hair cells,
resulting in permanent hearing damage.
The pressure of more powerful sounds
can even dislocate the ossicular chain
or burst an eardrum.
The other side of this equation
is the sound’s duration.
While dangerously loud sounds
can injure ears almost instantly,
hair cells can also be damaged
by exposure to lower sound pressure
for long periods.
For example, hearing a hand dryer is safe
for the 20 seconds you’re using it.
But if you listened
for 8 consecutive hours,
this relatively low-pressure sound
would overwork the stereocilia
and swell the hair cell’s
supporting tissue.
Swollen hair cells are unable to vibrate
with the appropriate speed and accuracy,
making hearing muffled.
This kind of hearing loss is known
as a temporary threshold shift,
and many people will experience
it at least once in their lifetime.
In Anja’s case,
the loud sounds of the concert
only took three hours
to cause this condition.
Fortunately, it’s a temporary ailment
that usually resolves
as swelling decreases over time.
In most cases,
simply avoiding hazardous sounds
gives hair cells all they need to recover.
One temporary threshold shift isn’t likely
to cause permanent hearing loss.
But frequent exposure
to dangerous sound levels
can lead to a wide range
of hearing disorders,
such as the constant buzz of tinnitus
or difficulty understanding speech
in loud environments.
Overworked hair cells can also generate
dangerous molecules
called reactive oxygen species.
These molecules
have unpaired electrons,
driving them to steal electrons
from nearby cells
and cause permanent damage
to the inner ear.
There are numerous strategies you can
adopt for preventing hearing loss.
Current research around earbud headphone
use suggests keeping your volume
at 80% or less if you’ll be listening for
more than 90 minutes throughout the day.
Noise-isolating headphones can also help
you listen at lower volumes.
Getting a baseline understanding
of your hearing
is essential to protecting
your auditory system.
Just like our eyes and teeth,
our ears also need annual check-ups.
Not all communities have
access to audiologists,
but organizations around the world are
developing portable hearing tests
and easy-to-use apps to bring these
vital resources to remote regions.
Finally, wear earplugs
when you’re knowingly exposing yourself
to loud sounds for extended periods.
An earplug’s effectiveness depends
on how well you’ve inserted it,
so be careful to read the instructions.
But when worn correctly,
they can ensure you’ll be able
to hear your favorite band
for many nights to come.