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Premature deafness -

Experts say that our "earphone culture," which sees people listening to music loudly on their earphones/headphones for long periods of time, will produce generations of prematurely deaf individuals.

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Unsafe volumes -

In general, people are listening for too long and with too much volume. Experts say that you should only listen for 90 minutes a day at 80% volume.

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There's no uniformity in output -

However, different mobile devices, songs, and earphones/headphones produce a range of volume outputs, making the situation more complicated.

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The global industry -

Although the individual has responsibility for keeping the volume low, the global earphone/headphone industry, which was worth over US$25 billion in 2019, has a responsibility too.

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Invest in quality headphones/earphones? -

The price you pay for a pair of headphones/earphones doesn’t necessarily correlate with how safe they are for your ears. It’s all down to the volume output.

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If other people can hear it, it's too loud -

A good rule of thumb is that if you hear noise coming from your earphones/headphones when they’re not in/on your ears, the volume is too loud.

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The WHO -

The World Health Organization estimates that more than one billion youths are in danger of hearing loss today.

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National Acoustic Laboratories of Australia -

A study in 2017 by the National Acoustic Laboratories of Australia estimated that one in 10 Australians regularly crank their headphone volume above 85 decibels.

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Hearing damage snowballs -

Professor David McAlpine of Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia says that hearing loss is an irreversible journey. If you don’t protect your hearing, it will get worse and worse.

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One in four by 2050 -

It’s estimated that one in six Australians will now suffer hearing loss in their lifetime. By 2050, this number is expected to be one in four.

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Hearing loss in teens -

Dr. Sreekant Cherukuri, an ear, nose, and throat specialist from Indiana, estimates that hearing loss among today's teens is about 30% higher than in the 1980s and 1990s.

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Tinnitus in young people -

Nicole Raia, a clinical audiologist at University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey, says that she’s seeing more young people with tinnitus.

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Its affect is too early to call -

Recent generations are the first to have access to headphones/earphones from a very young age, although experts feel that it is too early to say what effect it will have on their hearing over a lifetime.

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We need to be aware of what we expose ourselves to -

Professor McAlpine says that we need to approach our hearing like we treat our diet. We need not expose ourselves to too much loud noise, just like we wouldn’t expose our bodies to too much alcohol.

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The "noise diet" -

Professor McAlpine says, "You need to go on a noise diet. If you're going to a noisy gig, don't spend all day on public transport listening to your earbuds."

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Louder is better? -

Generally, the louder the music is, the better we think it is. This has seen the music industry raising volumes of their songs. Music and the technology that delivers it are getting louder, but our ears and hearing are staying the same.

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The "loudness war" -

The "loudness war" is the name given to the trend of music getting louder, which has been happening since the 1940s. The digitalization of music has made this limitless. Record labels and those profiting in the music industry have profited from making songs louder and therefore selling more.

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There's no global safe listening standard -

According to the World Health Organization, there is no uniformity in implementing safe listening standards worldwide.

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Is it safe to let big tech decide what's safe? -

There is varying information and warnings by different device manufacturers through their interface or websites.

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The dangers for users -

This means that there is no existing standard. Some headphones/earphones are louder than others. Some devices play music louder than others.

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When switching devices or headphones/earphones -

It’s trapping for the listener. They plug in a new pair of headphones and crank up the volume to where it normally is. They will think that they are excellent headphones/earphones, but they are just louder and can be so loud that they’re damaging their hearing.

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Manufacturers sell more if they're louder -

In general, very quiet headphones don't satisfy consumers and, therefore, don't sell as much.

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The manufacturing of deafness-causing headphones/earphones is incentivized by the consumer -

There’s an incentive for companies to make headphones/earphones capable of producing dangerously loud sound levels because louder headphones are 'better' headphones.

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It's slightly less relevant for devices in terms of manufacturing -

The same goes for devices. However, it is less relevant with devices as consumers don’t primarily buy cell phones (which are the main music player today) with their music-playing ability in mind.

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Warnings from devices -

Certain phones will warn the user when the volume is going above a level that will damage their hearing, and other phones will give this warning only as it’s confirmed.

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Nobody is going to protect your hearing but you -

All this said, you can protect your hearing by keeping the volume at a safe level, not listening for too long, and also by wearing hearing protection when at concerts or around heavy machinery.

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Big companies should make their products safe -

However, people generally aren't informed about aural health, so the argument remains that most of the responsibility falls on the industry. The devices should suggest safe listening practices, allow users to review their listening habits, and compute safe listening times, for some examples.

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The device should, at least, inform the user -

A device should recommend that a user only listens to what they’re listening to for a specific amount of time to avoid hearing loss. For example, if a user is listening to 100 decibels of sound, they should be informed after a short period that it can permanently damage their hearing after one hour.

Sources: (ABC News) (NBC News)(WHO/ITU)

See also: What is sound therapy, and how does it work?

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