MOH: Long-Term Use Of Earphones Or Headphones Can Damage Your Sense Of Hearing

Long-term use of earphones or headphones can cause damage to your sense of hearing, according to Malaysia’s Ministry of Health. The scary part about this is that the damaging effect is permanent although it occurs slowly and without pain.

On 30 September, the Ministry of Health posted on Facebook to educate the public that hearing loss is caused by various factors, and one of them is using earphones or headphones for a long period of time.

With that being said, the Ministry of Health also provided a few ways to prevent your sense of hearing from being destroyed. The first thing is, obviously, try to minimise the use of earphones.

Secondly, avoid using earbuds. According to TeensHealth, the use of earbuds can damage your hearing just like how chainsaws and motorcycles can. The noise that motorcycles and chainsaws make are as loud as 100 decibels, and the maximum volume on an online music player is approximately 102 decibels, according to PinnacleHealth.

We all have probably heard of doing everything in moderation, and it is good advice to use in this context. The Ministry of Health recommends us to set the sound volume at not more than 50% while using earphones or headphones.

The louder the volume, the more likely hearing loss can happen. Not only that, playing music at a loud volume may make us unaware of what is happening around us, which increases the chances of an accident.

Next, when you are using earphones or headphones, make sure the duration is not longer than 90 minutes. Just like us, our ears do need a break too. As stated by the Ministry of Health, the ears will need 16 hours to recover from the damage from hearing continuous loud noises the night before.

It is understandable that many young people nowadays prefer the use of earphones or headphones, for privacy as well as to not disturb the others when in public areas. Nevertheless, do try to monitor the use of earphones or headphones and follow the recommended ways by the Ministry of Health to protect your sense of hearing.

 

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