Hearing, Headphones, Health and Safety

By Phil Nast February 6, 2012 12:34 pm

A recent study cited by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) found that pedestrian accidents involving headphone use have tripled since 2004. In 116 accidents reported between 2004-2011, about two-thirds of victims were under 30, and more than half were hit by trains. 70% of the victims were killed. Granted, the study of 116 accidents appears miniscule, but the study is based on reported accidents.

Headphones, earplugs, and earbuds buzz in more ears than mosquitoes at a picnic. I live near a university and it’s rare to see a student on campus walking, jogging, or biking without something on, in, or pressed to an ear. I once walked through a hall tightly packed with rocking and groaning undergraduates waiting office hours. It was a picture of Bedlam. I used to feel immediate compassion for those who talked to themselves, but now I assume they’re somehow connected to a cellphone.

I have no way to prove it, but my guess is that the increase in accidents is, in part, caused by the effectiveness of today’s headphones. Young people have always listened to loud music. I know I did. But the single earplug for my transistor radio constantly fell out. I never used a portable cassette or CD player without sitting in a chair or lying bed, which limited my chances of being hit by a train, and the headphones attached to those devices could never muffle the “Daddy!” from another floor. But I can be next to my son and he can’t hear me ask a question. Yes, he has moments of selective hearing, but rolling eyeballs usually give him away on those occasions.

One author writes that the Walkman was promoted as a way to block out city sound, which strikes me as being analogous to deadening one pain by inflicting another. Noise-cancelling headphones that block ambient sound seem especially dangerous. To echo Dr. Richard Lichenstein, the lead researcher on the study: don’t shut out sounds that will keep you alive.

Another problem connected to headphone use is teen hearing loss. A National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2005-6) found one in five teens suffers some degree of hearing loss, up from one in seven teens ten years previously, and though researchers could not explain the rise, the paper’s lead writer suggested listening to loud music.

Though listening to iPods and other MP3 players is often cited as a cause for hearing loss, earbuds and other in-ear phones are responsible for most of the damage. Headphones designed to direct sound across the ears instead of directly into them are safer, as are the speaker systems in which iPods can be docked. The car I drive is so old it doesn’t have a CD player so my daughter attaches her iPod to a Rube Goldberg device that plays her tunes through my car’s sound system. Her musical taste is eclectic, and I like most of what she listens to. She skips over Godsmack when I’m in the car.

Here are some resources that can be used by K-12 science and health teachers to examine the anatomy of the ear and promote safe listening with headphones.

“Preventing Hearing Damage When Listening With Headphones” compares listening to music through speakers and headphones to explain why headphone use is more likely to damage hearing.

The website Dangerous Decibels is designed for grades K-8 and has coloring sheets and classroom activities and experiments covering the anatomy and physiology of hearing, how to prevent noise-induced hearing loss, and the physics of sound. The site features a virtual exhibit and a downloadable Educator Resource Guide. (1.9 MB)

The New York Times Health Guide to “Hearing Loss” is a general resource on aspects hearing loss and covers many causes in addition to acoustic trauma.

The NIH’s “How Your Brain Understands What Your Ear Hears” is intended for grades 7-8 but can be adjusted for other grade levels. The package includes “Hearing: A Teacher’s Guide from NIH” with a glossary, five with lesson plans and associated activity sheets, and four interactive modules. The Teacher’s Guide (2.7 MB) can be downloaded in PDF format.