Now we have heard this before, that listening to music on headphones either an MP3 player or other device, which can damage our hearing. However, the interesting thing about this latest claim is that our ears can be damaged temporarily in just one hour, according to a study just published in the journal Archives of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery (which is a mouthful).
A total of 10 men and 11 women from 19 to 28 is their hearing tested before being asked to listen to pop or rock music for up to six sessions lasting an hour each. A control group of 14 men and women in the same age group was used to compare the results.
The music in the noise exposure group was played by two different types of headphones and a range of volume adjustments.
The tests were apparently designed to study the short term in view of young adults listening to an MP3 player for an hour.
“It is well known that excessive exposure to noise at work can cause hearing loss induced by noise,” the authors wrote.
After each one-hour sessions, was assessed each person’s hearing again with two different measures. One measures the response to a short beep and a test measures response to two simultaneous tones of different frequencies.
“Threshold issue or significant changes were observed among almost all the group sessions of exposure to noise compared with the control group,” said Dr. Hannah Kempler researcher at the University of Ghent, Belgium.
“Exposure to excessive noise can lead to metabolic and / or mechanical effects involving alterations of the structural elements of the organ of Corti [the organ of the mammalian inner ear that contains auditory sensory cells or '] hair cells.
“The main damage is concentrated in the outer hair cells, which are more vulnerable to acoustic overstimulation inner hair cells” The main concern, of course, is whether the temporary injury may cause permanent damage over time.
“The development of a permanent threshold shift can not be predicted from the initial temporary threshold shift, but taking into account the reduction in hearing sensitivity after listening to a portable media player, these devices are potentially dangerous,” said the authors of study.
“More research is needed to assess the long-term risk of cumulative exposure to recreational noise,” they concluded.
For some reason I can not see young people giving their MP3 players, no matter what future research reveals.