Loud music, hearing damage, and your teenager

If you are the parent of a teen, you have lived this scenario many times: You say something to teen. Teen doesn’t hear you because he is listening to an mp3 player playing loudly into earphones. You gesticulate wildly or otherwise get his attention (at which point he either pauses the song, leaving earphones in, or takes one earphone out—never both). You say what you wanted to say, and add: “You’re going to damage your hearing with those.” Teen rolls eyes and goes back to listening. You roll your eyes at his eye rolling, and go back to doing whatever you were doing.

The thing is, people really can damage their hearing by listening to mp3 players too loudly. This isn’t theoretical; it’s a fact. Exposure to loud noises, whether it be rock concerts, drills, firing ranges, or mp3 players cranked up loud, can injure tiny hair cells in the inner ear. These hair cells convert noise into electronic signals that go to the brain, turning the noise into something we can understand.

Most of us lose some hearing as we age, in part from all the loud noises we have been exposed to over the years. But researchers are finding that this hearing loss is happening earlier to people who listen to music at high volumes. A recent study from the Hearing Alliance of America showed that 15% of college grads had hearing loss equal to or more than their parents, caused by listening to music at high volumes. Fifteen percent may not seem that high, but given how ubiquitous mp3 usage is becoming (a survey of 16-year-olds found that 92% had one), and with kids starting to use them younger and younger, it’s scary to think what kind of hearing loss we are going to see ten years from now.

There are some risky behaviors that parents of teens take seriously—like cigarette smoking, using drugs, drinking alcohol, or driving dangerously. We know that doing these can have bad (even life-threatening) consequences. So we talk to our kids about them, set rules, and have punishments for breaking those rules. Listening to an mp3 player with the volume up too high isn’t a behavior that parents generally take seriously. Partly this is because mp3 players are a new technology—parents don’t have much if any personal experience with them. I also think parents ignore mp3 players because we don’t see the threat of hearing loss as that big of a deal.

While poor hearing isn’t life threatening (although it could be, from a safety perspective), it could certainly be life-altering to lose hearing permanently—or have to live with a constant ringing in your ears. We don’t want that for our kids, any more than we want them to get lung cancer or crash the car.

So, parents, here’s what you need to know—and do:

• Volume and time listening both matter. Teach your kids to keep the volume at or less than 60% of the maximum on the device (which is usually around 75 decibels), because that’s the volume at which they can safely listen to music for a long time. At 80%, it’s safe for about 90 minutes—and at full volume, around one song.
• Remind your kids that the volume can change from song to song, and may need to be adjusted accordingly.
• Since you can’t usually see the volume setting on the mp3 player when your kids are listening, here are two ways to know it’s too loud:
  • You can hear what they are listening to, even though they have ear phones on
  • They can’t hear conversations going on around them
• Know which ear phones are safest. The ear buds that fit snugly inside the ear (and are most popular), are actually the worst—the decibels coming out of them are higher, and because they let more outside noise in, there’s more temptation to crank up the volume. It’s better to have head phones that fit softly on the outer ear.
• Everybody’s ears are different—what’s safe for one person may be dangerous for another. So encourage your child to limit mp3 use in general, to be on the safe side—and make sure he lets you know immediately if he’s having any ringing in his ears or trouble hearing. At regular checkups, talk to your doctor about whether a hearing test would be a good idea.

Claire McCarthy, M.D., is a senior medical editor for Harvard Health Publications. She is an assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, an attending physician at Children's Hospital of Boston, and medical director of Martha Eliot Health Center, a neighborhood health service of Children's Hospital. The author of two books, "Learning How the Heart Beats" and "Everyone's Children", Dr. McCarthy is also a contributing editor for Parenting magazine.

More health information and tips from Harvard Medical School
Sign up for HEALTHbeat, the free weekly email newsletter from Harvard Health Publications.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Click here to join the group Harvard Med: Talking About Health

This content is not intended to substitute for personalized medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment from your healthcare provider. Read our full disclaimer.