Now hear this: Resist temptation to
pump up the volume on ear buds
By Washington Post, adapted by Newsela staff on 11.17.16
Word Count 649
A woman uses ear buds on the Metro subway in Mexico City, Mexico. Photo: Jeffrey Greenberg/UIG via Getty Images
Question: I just got a new iPhone and I can't decide what kind of headphones I should be
using. I read somewhere that ear buds are worse for you than headphones that fit over
your ear. Is that true? I don't want to damage my hearing by using the wrong kind.
Answer: Here's what science has to say:
At the end of the day, nothing really matters but volume. No pair of headphones is
inherently "good" or "bad" for your hearing. But picking the right headphones can help you
listen to your music more responsibly.
Smartphone Can Ruin Your Ears
The louder a sound is, the more quickly it can cause injury to your ears. If you're not
careful, a powerful sound wave can actually tear right through your delicate eardrum.
However, that's unlikely to happen while blasting music.
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Most hearing loss is the result of nerve damage, and your smartphone is more than
capable of wrecking your ears that way. You can be exposed to 85 decibels — that is, the
noise of busy city traffic — pretty much all day without causing nerve damage. Things
quickly become dangerous once you get louder than that, though. At 115 decibels, which
is about the noise level produced at a rock concert or by a chain saw, nerve damage can
happen in less than a minute. You might not immediately notice significant hearing loss as
the result of that nerve damage, but it will add up over time.
Some smartphones can crank music to 120 decibels. If you listened to an entire album at
that volume, you might have noticeable hearing loss by the time you took off your
headphones.
1.1 Billion Young People At Risk
According to the World Health Organization, 1.1 billion teens and young adults globally are
at risk of developing hearing loss because of these "personal audio devices."
You already know the solution: Turn that music down.
"When I see patients who have hearing loss or an underlying complaint like ringing, I tell
them never to put the iPod above medium volume," says Aaron Pearlman, an ear surgeon
at Weill Cornell Medicine and New York-Presbyterian Hospital. He thinks it's a good idea
for everyone to keep that little volume slider centered solidly in the middle (or even farther
to the left), even if they haven't noticed any hearing loss yet. "If you do that, you're never
going to have it loud enough to damage your ears," he says.
Pearlman can't tell patients what kind of headphones to use, because several factors are
at play. Ear buds get a bad rap because they sit in your ear canal, emitting the sound
closer to your ear. That means you're getting closer to the full force of sound at whatever
decibel the music is playing. Big, padded over-ear headphones don't sit as close to your
eardrum, but they still trap in sound so that it reaches your eardrum at nearly full force.
What About Over-Ear Headphones?
In contrast, those very ineffective over-ear headphones that used to come with portable
CD players distribute sound around your ear instead of directing it inward. That's bad
news for your listening experience, but good news for your ears.
Solid-plastic in-ear headphones like the ones that come with the iPhone are also quite bad
at blocking out ambient, or background, noise. In turn, this might make you want to pump
up the volume. Noise-isolating over-ear headphones, squishy ear buds or custom-molded
headphones can make the world around you less bothersome.
The right headphones are whichever ones help you resist the temptation to turn the music
up. Unfortunately, that's easier said than done.
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Pearlman recommends that his patients get custom-molded ear buds to more effectively
block out ambient noise, which in theory should encourage them to listen at lower
volumes.
"But I think people just have a habit of turning it all the way up," he says.
This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.
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Quiz
1
Read the second paragraph in the section "Smartphone Can Ruin Your Ears."
Which of the following words from the paragraph provides a context clue to the meaning of the
word “wrecking”?
2
(A)
damage
(B)
busy
(C)
louder
(D)
decibels
Read the following selection from the section “What About Over-Ear Headphones?"
The right headphones are whichever ones help you resist the
temptation to turn the music up. Unfortunately, that's easier said than
done.
Which two words could replace ““resist” and “unfortunately” in the selection WITHOUT
changing the meaning?
3
(A)
fight; appropriately
(B)
change; unluckily
(C)
accept; sadly
(D)
withstand; regrettably
Read the paragraph from the section “1.1 Billion Young People At Risk.”
You already know the solution: Turn that music down.
What does this paragraph accomplish?
(A)
It implies that better headphones are necessary.
(B)
It establishes a connection to the ear surgeon.
(C)
It shows that listening responsibly is up to the reader.
(D)
It helps explain that readers do not have a choice.
This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.
4
4
Read the paragraph from the section “1.1 Billion Young People At Risk.”
Pearlman can't tell patients what kind of headphones to use, because
several factors are at play. Ear buds get a bad rap because they sit in
your ear canal, emitting the sound closer to your ear. That means
you're getting closer to the full force of sound at whatever decibel the
music is playing. Big, padded over-ear headphones don't sit as close
to your eardrum, but they still trap in sound so that it reaches your
eardrum at nearly full force.
How does the first sentence support the main idea of the paragraph?
(A)
It suggests that doctors cannot provide good recommendations to patients.
(B)
It suggests that listeners should look carefully at the options for headphones.
(C)
It suggests that there are no headphones that are safe for listeners.
(D)
It suggests that people are likely to sacrifice their hearing for sound quality.
This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.
5
Answer Key
1
Read the second paragraph in the section "Smartphone Can Ruin Your Ears."
Which of the following words from the paragraph provides a context clue to the meaning of the
word “wrecking”?
2
(A)
damage
(B)
busy
(C)
louder
(D)
decibels
Read the following selection from the section “What About Over-Ear Headphones?"
The right headphones are whichever ones help you resist the
temptation to turn the music up. Unfortunately, that's easier said than
done.
Which two words could replace ““resist” and “unfortunately” in the selection WITHOUT
changing the meaning?
3
(A)
fight; appropriately
(B)
change; unluckily
(C)
accept; sadly
(D)
withstand; regrettably
Read the paragraph from the section “1.1 Billion Young People At Risk.”
You already know the solution: Turn that music down.
What does this paragraph accomplish?
(A)
It implies that better headphones are necessary.
(B)
It establishes a connection to the ear surgeon.
(C)
It shows that listening responsibly is up to the reader.
(D)
It helps explain that readers do not have a choice.
This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.
6
4
Read the paragraph from the section “1.1 Billion Young People At Risk.”
Pearlman can't tell patients what kind of headphones to use, because
several factors are at play. Ear buds get a bad rap because they sit in
your ear canal, emitting the sound closer to your ear. That means
you're getting closer to the full force of sound at whatever decibel the
music is playing. Big, padded over-ear headphones don't sit as close
to your eardrum, but they still trap in sound so that it reaches your
eardrum at nearly full force.
How does the first sentence support the main idea of the paragraph?
(A)
It suggests that doctors cannot provide good recommendations to patients.
(B)
It suggests that listeners should look carefully at the options for
headphones.
(C)
It suggests that there are no headphones that are safe for listeners.
(D)
It suggests that people are likely to sacrifice their hearing for sound quality.
This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.
7