Shock Horror! Loud Music Is Bad for Your Ears!

From an article in The Atlantic.  Apparently, iPods and their ilk can be bad for hearing if the volume is too high for too long.  Who knew?

For regular iPod users, the negative effects of loud listening might not be immediately noticeable.

“Noise-induced hearing loss or music-induced hearing loss happens very slowly over time,” said audiologist Cory Portnuff. “I think in a few years we’ll be able to see some effects of music players on hearing, but we’re still easily five to 10 years away from seeing larger scale effects.”

Portnuff has been studying the effect of portable music players on hearing loss as part of his doctoral dissertation at the University of Colorado. Studies on the hearing effects of portable music players have been around for decades, first looking at cassette and CD players. Portnuff’s research is the first to use a monitoring device attached to participants’ iPods to take away the unpredictability of self-reporting.

Consistent with previous research, his study found that people will increase their listening levels in proportion to background noise. But he said the most interesting or, rather, concerning result of the study was finding that 17 percent of the people monitored were putting themselves at risk for music-induced hearing loss from daily activities, exceeding the maximum allowable dosage for the day.

“It’s a small but substantial group, about one in six people that are putting themselves at risk for hearing loss,” Portnuff said. “That on its own is not a huge number, but when you think about the number of iPods in the world, we start to get a little concerned.”

The biggest concern is that as hearing worsens over time, people may lose some ability to distinguish consonants and understand speech.

More here.  If you think you need it.