Deaf Jam

Hearing loss caused by loud noise—known by some as “iPod Ear” —is on the rise. Approximately 28 million Americans have impaired hearing, and it’s estimated that one third of those cases could have been prevented by reducing exposure to loud noise.

Damage to the cilia, or the minuscule hair cells lining the inner ear, causes hearing loss. Cilia are responsible for guiding electrical impulses along the acoustic nerve that communicates with the brain. Excessively loud sounds can damage the cilia, and if that trauma is severe, the nerve cells will be destroyed, resulting in permanent hearing loss.

Don’t wait for tinnitus, or ringing in your ears, to warn you that noises are too loud, cautions Harvey B. Simon, MD, a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. “You can have cumulative acoustic trauma at levels of sound that aren’t enough to produce tinnitus,” says Simon.

But exactly how loud is too loud?

“If the volume of your music blocks out other sounds, that’s too high,” says Simon. One rule of thumb: Keep the volume dialed in below 75%. As for in-ear phones that “fill in” your ear canal to block ambient noise that would compete with your MP3 player, Simon is slow to endorse them. “The sound that is piped in is the worry, not the ambient sound that might be suppressed,” he explains. Also, noisy public places that make it necessary to shout to be heard could damage your hearing, the cacophony that professional truck drivers endure, or simply the sound of your lawn mower could eventually cause hearing damage. These sounds often measure above a “safe” 75 decibels.

Although this “sound” advice provides some guidelines, not everyone hears the same tune. Some people are more susceptible to hearing loss than others. A number of factors, such genetics, a history of smoking, and the type of sounds and length of exposure to them, may predispose you to having more sensitive hearing. Whatever your personal volume level, it’s worth listening to that little voice in your head that reminds you to turn down the volume.

— Michele Deppe