College Students and Loud Music

Does listening to loud music really induce hearing loss? When you’re jamming out to your favorite song on your favorite device singing along, every second that goes by you're risking your hearing ability. Many college students don’t understand the importance of how loud music can affect their hearing lost and cause long-term issues.

People are exposed to music in their daily lives. But listening to music through a personal listening device can cause hearing loss. Not many people understand the knowledge of what loud music can do to your hearing. The structure of the ear is compared to a close compacted area. The more things are packed into it, the more risk a person is opposed to hearing loss. The way the human ear is set up when music travels into it. The vibration of the music hits the hair cells which turn into electric signals. These signals travel up to the brain though the nerve cells, where the brain recognizes the sound. These hair cells can be easily damaged by loud music. This is just the beginning to the risk of hearing loss. The average American listens to music on some sort of music device. It is not a problem with listening to music but the number of hours and how loud the music is. It is estimated that more than 90% of college students own some type of personal listening device (PLD). College students are more at risk of hearing lost because we listen to our music at very loud volumes. Even those who talk loud can be experiencing some type of hearing loss. Excessive exposure to music or noise can result in hearing loss that is irreversible; this is the second most common form of acquired hearing loss. The most common form is presbycusis or age- related hearing loss. There are different types of ways that can put you at a low or high risk of hearing loss. Using insert headphones puts a person at more high risk of hearing loss compared to the over the ear headphones. The effects of hearing loss have a different effect on males and females. Females are more subject to having a less risk of hearing loss compared to males. But how is that so?

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In a study provided by Pace University broad, 400 undergraduate students (100 Freshmen, 100 Sophomores, 100 juniors and 100 seniors) all within age range of 19-22 where all tested using pen and paper on their PLD-listening patterns, their knowledge of safe PLD use and their knowledge and practice of the effect on their hearing as well as to safe levels. What was discovered is that 382 of the college students surveyed used a PLD; 18 reported that they never listened to music using a PLD. There was an association between male and female hearing ability. That was more males than females reported heavy PLD use. This result suggest that males are less knowledgeable than females regarding safe PLD habits. Female students were more conscious of these limits and more knowledgeable about the maximum listening levels per day, compared with their male counterparts. When though the study provided information about hearing loss between genders. They did not do an actual physical hearing test on the students. Furthermore, younger students (freshmen) were less aware of safe listening levels compared with older students who were sophomores. Some people, especially those using their headphones in a noisy environment, like a city street or subway, do listen at levels high enough and for durations of time that pose a risk to hearing. This is an issue that won't cause a problem immediately as it takes years to do significant damage, but once it occurs; this damage is irreversible and sets the stage for poorer hearing at younger ages than in previous generations.

The risk is real and needs to be taken seriously.  I personally have suffered a minimum hearing loss in my left ear due to excessive loud music. I used to sleep with my headphones in my ear. I would hear from others all that time that my headphones were too loud and I was going to go deaf. I never believed anyone until I was screened for hearing loss. I do hear a difference between my left and my right ear. Having this knowledge on the high risk of hearing loss I did make a change in the volume in which I listen to my music. 

In conclusion by having the knowledge on how to reduce your risk of hearing loss. The numbers of 1 out of 5 college students could reduce to none. Using your PLD appropriately is important in adolescences hearing development. The study confirmed what I suspected, that college students aren’t hardly aware of the risk they have when they are listening to loud music. This knowledge could assist speech language pathologists in developing and implementing hearing conservation strategies that would better and more effectively target this challenging population. 

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References:

Berg, Abbey L. et al. Music-Induced Hearing Loss:What Do College Students Know? Contemporary Issues in Communication Science and Disorders, 43; 195-205 (2016). Web. 12 Dec. 2016.