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I n today’s age of gaming and devices, headphones are an everyday part of the lives of the younger generations.
And while headphones are used mostly to enhance a fun experience, whether it’s listening to music, playing a game or watching a show, local hearing specialists say too loud for too long can lead to permanent hearing loss.
Dr. James Stewart with Henry and Stewart Audiology in Uniontown likened noise to the ear as wind that affects a wheat field.
“The hair cells on the inner part of the ear are like the wheat field and sound is like the wind,” he said. “The wind can blow for a short period of time, and it might knock the wheat down a bit, but it can recover. However, once there’s so much wind that comes in and is continually breaking down the wheat, eventually it won’t recover.”
For gamers, the use of headphones is becoming the normal scenario.
Eric McRae, manager of Game Stop in the Uniontown Mall, said that when it comes to gaming, it’s not just about the system and the controllers anymore.
“Headsets are pretty much a necessity as well because so much of gaming these days is geared towards online gaming where you can play together with friends without having to be in the same home,” he said.
“Playing online is a whole new ballgame,” McRae added. “Fortnight — one of the most popular online games involves shooting, but also in a cartoonish way — has really popularized online play.”
While headphones can vary in price and quality from $15 up to $300 or more, the better the quality, the more likely of a chance the headphones have a noise-reducing quality.
“On some of the higher quality headphones, the surround sound and noise reducer are so good that you can even hear footsteps if someone is sneaking up behind you,” McRae said.
Some of the more popular headphones right now are Plantronix and Turtle Beach, McRae added.
Stewart said those who want to diminish the chances of any type of hearing loss should limit both the time and intensity of any outside noise.
“If you have headphones on and can hear someone at arms length, that’s probably a good rule to follow,” Stewart said. “My rule of thumb is that if parents can hear it, it’s probably too loud. What people don’t realize is that no matter what, once your hearing is gone because of noise, it’s gone.”
Brittney DeMent, clinical audiologist with Excela Health Ear Nose Throat, said volume is measured by decibels (dB) and any sound that is 85 dB or greater runs the risk of causing noise damage.
“The louder or higher the decibel, the shorter the time it takes to cause damage to the organ of hearing,” she said. “For example, it would take 8 hours of exposure to an 85 dB sound (street traffic/ some MP3 players at max) to cause damage, where it would take 15 minutes of exposure to a 100 dB sound (jack hammer) to cause damage.”
Stewart added that there’s no definitive length of time that you can say a person will lose their hearing because everyone’s ears are different.
“It’s just like every other organ in a person’s body,” he said. “I’ve seen people exposed to loud noise their whole life who have relatively good hearing, and I’ve seen individuals who experienced a few incidents and now have permanent hearing loss. It can vary among people.”
DeMent added that hearing loss is a gradual process and most people don’t seek testing or treatment until it gets significant enough to cause communication difficulties.
“Studies show it takes an average of 7 years for a patient to first realize there may be a problem hearing, to then actually seeking treatment,” she said.
Those suffering from hearing loss, possibly from continual loud noises, can also develop a condition known as tinnitus.
DeMent described tinnitus as the perception of a phantom sound or noise that an individual may hear that is not an actual sound present in the environment.
“The sound or noise heard varies, but most individuals describe it as a buzzing, ringing or hissing sound,” she said.
And just as the type of sound can vary, so can the frequency; it could be present all the time or come and go for short durations.
“Tinnitus is considered a symptom of an underlying condition and is usually not caused by anything serious,” DeMent said. “We typically see it in individuals with hearing loss. As our hearing declines due to the aging process or noise damage for example, our sensory organ of hearing deteriorates and can send random signals to our brain making it ‘hear’ something that is not present in the environment.”
She said some other possible causes could be fluid behind the ear drum, ear wax blocking the ear canal, temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMJ), or although rare, an acoustic neuroma (tumor on auditory nerve).
“Sometimes we can even have tinnitus after loud noise exposure such as a concert or firing a gun,” DeMent said. “If you are experiencing tinnitus, first seek a medical evaluation from an ear, nose and throat physician to determine its cause. While there is no absolute cure for tinnitus, there are various treatments that may provide some relief from its’ annoyances.”
Surprisingly, one of the main goals for one suffering from tinnitus is to avoid silence.
“A silent situation or environment can make tinnitus more apparent and bothersome; many patients have trouble sleeping due to this,” she said. “Simply having music or TV on in the background, even possibly a fan or sound machine can help drown out the tinnitus.”
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