By: Kimberly Lua and Bruce Mondragon
Are earphones the silent epidemic? Many people nowadays use earphones or headphones on a daily basis. They are being used by people of all ages, from kids to adults. Here at APB you’ll notice that most students have earphones peeking out of their uniform on the daily. Little do they know , however, the damages loud earphones can cause.
1 out of 5 teens suffer from hearing loss due to the loud music that is being blasted in their ears, according to the American Osteopathic Association. This is because many teens are not informed about the damages earphones cause and only see it as a sort of earpiece that allows music to flow into their ears.
Headphones and earphones are tiny speakers that blast music through your ear canal, this however, can cause permanent ear loss. The inner part of a person’s ear is called the cochlea which contains tiny hair cells. These tiny hairs help send sound to the brain. Playing loud music can damage the hair cells and when this happens, they can no longer transmit messages to the brain. This is what leads to deafness.
However, the problem here isn’t the headphones or the earphones. No, it is the amount of time you have them in and how loud they are. Is it possible that students here at APB are at risk of damaging their ears? The answer is yes. “I listen to music up to 2 hours and I blast it out loud whenever I work on homework, depends how much I want to concentrate ” said Senior Jocelyne Hernandez.
When students were asked if they were willing to listen to music the right way by following the 60/60 rule they often had a look of confusion, “Huh? There’s a rule? Yeah I’m willing to follow it” said Junior Jorge Lopez.
The 60/60 rule is a rule that only allows people to hear music at a volume of 60% for only an hour. Some students are willing to follow the 60/60 rule, but others really don’t care about the rule and are still going to listen to music at the certain volume they want. Why? I suppose because life’s too short to worry about 20-30 years in the future. Music also provides solace for some students and they revel in blocking out the outside world and the problems it holds.
Some tips to avoid hearing loss would be to use headphones instead of earbuds. Noise cancelling headphones, limit the amount of background noise one hears that can cause ear damage. Students would benefit from using the 60/60 rule, turning down their music, and educating others about the risk they take before it’s too late.
