Recently, the data released by the World Health Organization shows that about 1 1 100 million teenagers in the world are facing the risk of irreversible hearing loss, and the excessive volume of personal audio equipment is an important reason for the risk. There are about 466 million disabled people with hearing loss in the world, most of whom are concentrated in middle-income and low-income countries; By 2050, the number of people with hearing loss will increase to more than 900 million, which is equivalent to 1 person with hearing loss.
A questionnaire survey and hearing test involving millions of people abroad show that more than 40 million adults have some hearing loss in one ear or both ears due to long-term exposure to high volume environment. If you are stimulated by the same frequency of sound for a long time, the hair cells in the cochlea may be overworked and damaged, but the hair cells are non-renewable, and a large number of hair cells will be destroyed, resulting in irreversible hearing damage. In addition, high-intensity sound will destroy the synaptic connection between hair cells and auditory nerves, which will cause "hidden hearing loss" in the early stage and irreversible damage in the long run.
At the same time, frequent and continuous use of headphones will also accelerate the proliferation of bacteria in the ear canal. One hour after wearing in-ear headphones, the number of bacteria in the ears is about five times that before wearing them. Bacteria in one person's ear can also spread to another person's ear by wearing the same pair of headphones, which can cause infection in severe cases. In addition, long-term use of headphones will also cause tinnitus, deafness and earache due to oppression and blockage of the external auditory canal.
It is important to use headphones correctly. While enjoying the convenience and fun brought by headphones, we also try to reduce the damage to our ears. We need to pay attention to the following points when wearing headphones:
First, don't wear the same pair of headphones with others to prevent the spread and cross-infection of bacteria. At the same time, it is also necessary to disinfect headphones frequently to reduce bacterial reproduction.
Second, the volume should not exceed 60% of the total volume, and the listening time should not exceed 60 minutes each time. It is recommended to take off the headphones in a noisy environment. The noise of noisy streets is generally about 70 decibels, and the noise of buses and subways will reach about 85 decibels. The background noise reached more than 70 decibels. If you want to hear the sound in the earphone clearly, the user will inevitably turn up the volume. No, the user's hearing is impaired.
Thirdly, it is suggested to use earmuffs and increase the distance between the eardrum and the speaker, which can reduce the probability of hearing loss. At the same time, the earmuffs do not plug the ear canal, which also reduces the risk of infection.
Fourth, noise-reducing headphones have certain benefits. Noise reduction headphones are divided into passive noise reduction and active noise reduction. Passive noise reduction is very effective for high-frequency sound by blocking noise through sound insulation materials. In addition to using sound insulation materials, active noise reduction has an audio processing circuit inside the earphone, which can reduce low-frequency sound signals, so the noise reduction effect is better than that of passive headphones. Noise-reducing headphones can reduce the ambient sound by 15-20 decibels, thus reducing hearing loss.