Preventing Hearing Loss – Six Things to Look For in a Pair of Headphones

Everyone has the need every so often to turn the radio up as high as it can go and to belt out the lyrics to favorite songs. But the trouble these days is that more people are listening to music on portable music players than on car stereos or at home. And turning the volume up all the way when the music is being pumped directly into one’s ears can do a serious amount of damage, even with a limited amount of time.

For those who can’t believe that listening to music on the wrong headphones might contribute to hearing loss, there’s only one thing that needs to be done: look at the statistics for instances of early-onset hearing loss. In a new world where digital technology means bringing music anywhere that you might happen to go, there are teenagers doing serious damage before being able to vote. Countless hours spent with music pumped into one’s ears can do a serious number on the ability of ears to continue hearing at the right levels, and keeping the volume turned up without checking to see if it’s at a maximum level means that the damage is sometimes done even quicker than someone can realize.

That’s why choosing the right headphones is so important: making sure that there isn’t a racket being piped into one’s ears is a crucial step in preventing early-onset hearing loss. Here are six things to look for in a pair of headphones so that the ability to hear well for years to come isn’t lost.

#1 Cushioned with a bit of material around the ear. Headphones that just sit on top of one’s ears aren’t going to muffle exterior noises, and that means users might keep the volume pumped up even higher.

#2 Avoid all earbuds. Pumping loud noises right into the ear canal is a surefire way to end up with early-onset hearing loss. Because earbud headphones provide no noise canceling properties and simply put volume closer to sensitive parts of the ears, they do the most damage. It’s essential to avoid that kind of trouble.

#3 Splurge a little. Because headphones are likely to be a part of everyday life, it makes sense to spend a bit more money to make sure that the pair you end up with will make the grade. By spending a little bit more, everything from the quality of materials to their ability to do the job they say that they can do both work in your favor. Spend a bit more and do your body some favors.

#4 Keep an eye out for volume-limiters. Certain headphones provide the function for setting a maximum volume that they will play music at. This means that if you get too carried away or are sick of the construction noises on your morning commute and try to crank the volume all the way up, they won’t let you do that kind of damage to your ears. Definitely worth considering and investing in.

#5 Go for the noise-canceling pairs. Because these actually are able to figure out the white noise around the wearer and cancel it out, there’s less of a need to crank the volume to ten. An excellent investment for those who spend most of their time listening to music on headphones.

#6 How they fit your head. Sometimes, headphones just aren’t made for a particular person’s cranium. Don’t end up with a pair that doesn’t quite fit right.