Are headphones safe or harmful?

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There are now different types of headphones, with or without cables, large or small. When they harm our hearing health.

Most of us use headphones every day to listen to music or podcasts; some of us even watch a series. Headphones have even become very popular for making phone calls. Is this harmful to us, or are headphones safe?

Headphones only have a negative impact on our hearing health if we exceed the usage time and the volume is permanently too high. The incorrect use of them repeatedly causes hearing stress-related trauma. This includes symptoms such as hearing loss, which is usually accompanied by inflammation of the eardrum or a feeling of pressure in the ear. Tinnitus can also be triggered. These hearing disorders are usually experienced as earaches or hearing problems. These symptoms can disappear on their own if action is taken at the right time. If nothing is done, it can lead to permanent damage.

Many people will soon be wearing headphones 24/7, which could lead to hearing problems over time, especially if they are always listening to music at a high volume. The 60-60 rule applies here. This states that you can use headphones for 60 minutes at a volume of 60%. The louder we set the headphones, the shorter the usage time should be. Small breaks of 15 minutes can be enough to protect our hearing.

Headphones should be used with caution, but the music we listen to through them has a very positive effect on our bodies. It slows down our heartbeat and breathing rate and can put us in a good mood. It even has a pain-relieving effect.
When sound reaches the ear, it is transmitted as an impulse wave via the eardrum and the auditory ossicle to the cochlea. There, small hair cells convert the sound waves into bioelectric impulses, which are transmitted to the brain as auditory information. If the sound pressure on these hair cells is too high, they stop working. However, the fewer of these hair cells are working, the less information reaches our brain. However, the hearing can recover. After listening to loud music for a long time, the auditory system has no more energy, so it helps to take a break, as explained above.