Download Earbuds and hearing loss

Hearing loss began early for
Josh Musto, triggered at first by
a heavy metal concert and
worsened by years of playing
guitar in two bands. Listening to
loud music constantly through
ear buds may be to blame for a
ringing in his ears.
"I've been a musician forever,"
said Musto, now 21 and a junior
at the New School in New York
City. "There's a lot of noise in
my life."
Josh Musto, a music student at
New York City's New School, is
an intern at SiriusXM
radio. Mayra Ramales
Musto is not alone. Doctors
warn that a steady onslaught of
loud noise, particularly through
ear buds, is damaging the
hearing of a generation wired for sound — although they may not realize it for years.
Earlier this year the World Health Organization warned that 1.1 billion young people are
at risk of hearing loss because of personal audio devices, such as smartphones, and
damaging levels of sound at entertainment venues like electronic dance music festivals,
where noise levels can top 120 decibels for hours.
"Probably the largest cause [of hearing damage] is millennials using iPods and
[smartphones]," says Dr. Sreekant Cherukuri, an ear, nose, and throat specialist from
Munster, Indiana.
Hearing loss among today's teens is about 30 percent higher than in the 1980s and
1990s, Cherukuri estimates.
"You (once) had a Walkman with two AA batteries and headphone thongs that went
over your ears," he told NBC News. "At high volume, the sound was so distorted and
the battery life was poor. Nowadays, we have smart phones that are extremely complex
computers with high-level fidelity."
Cherukuri tells young patients to stop wearing headphones — especially earbuds, which
place the sound closer to the ear drum, enhancing volume by as much as 9 decibels.
"It's very easy to achieve unknowingly," he said.
TODAY
According to the
National Institutes of
Health, repeated
exposure to sound
over 85 decibels can
cause hearing loss.
Permanent damage
can happen in
minutes, experts say,
and when the
damage is done, it's
irreversible.
"Noise exposure in
kids is a growing
concern," said Nicole
Raia, a clinical
audiologist at
University Hospital in
Newark, New Jersey.
Raia said she sees
more tinnitus in
young people, an
early sign of hearing
loss, but, "we don't
catch them until they
are in their 20s and
30s."
And because audioscreening protocols
are not that
sophisticated, many children with subtle damage pass hearing tests.
A study published in 2014 revealed that nerve synapses can be more vulnerable to
damage than hair cells in the inner ear. When young animals were exposed to loud
noise, even just once, they had accelerated hearing loss later in life.
"Within minutes of exposure, the points between the hair cells and the neurons were
injured and the loss was permanent," said co-author Sharon Kujawa, director of the
department of audiology at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary.
The problem is when there is exposure to excessive noise, it goes away within a few
hours.
This "hidden" hearing loss is not picked up by standard threshold tests on which all
national standards are based.
Experts say the best way to protect young ears is to apply the "60/60" rule: Keep the
volume on the MP3 player under 60 percent and only listen for a maximum of 60
minutes a day.
When using headphones in a noisy place like a school bus or subway, the tendency is
the turn the volume up, so use headphones that cover up outside noise.
And to protect your kids, use Apple's parental control setting to set lower sound
levels on iPhones and iPods, locked in place with a password.
For small children at loud sporting events, music concerts or riding on the subway,
buy ear protection.
As for Musto, he said he "got a lot smarter."
After seeing a doctor, he only uses over-the-ear headphones and protects his ears from
loud noise with customized ear plugs. He gave up earbuds a long time ago.
Today, he continues to play in two bands and interns at Sirius XM radio, doing
interviews and some DJing.
"If I couldn't hear, I wouldn't be able to do this," he said.