Are noise-cancelling headphones to blame for young people's hearing problems?

[Count Arthur]

I stumbled across this article on the BBC web site, that might be of interest to some.

Audiologists raise concern over headphone use in young people

More young people are presenting to audiology teams in England with difficulty processing sound.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[kemmler3D]

Interesting idea, but I didn't see anything in the article to suggest that noise cancelling headphones would contribute to the problem any more than other types of headphones.

If we're hypothesizing that listening to headphones too much impairs auditory processing ability (or prevents it from developing), then I would guess IEMs are actually the worst, since they bypass the entire pinna, not just partially, as circumaural headphones do.

 

[LTig]

Interesting idea, but I didn't see anything in the article to suggest that noise cancelling headphones would contribute to the problem any more than other types of headphones.

I'd rather think that a noise cancelling headphone leads to less SPL since the background noise is suppressed.

 

[kemmler3D]

I'd rather think that a noise cancelling headphone leads to less SPL since the background noise is suppressed.

The article isn't about hearing loss per se but auditory processing disorders, i.e. the hearing is fine but you can't understand what you're hearing. They're speculating that overuse of headphones could be contributing to it.

 

[ryanosaur]

This just in: Noise Cancelling Headphones help those who don’t give fcuk not give further fcuks!

 

[ta240]

The article isn't about hearing loss per se but auditory processing disorders, i.e. the hearing is fine but you can't understand what you're hearing. They're speculating that overuse of headphones could be contributing to it.

" says it is important to hear a diversity of sounds so the brain can decide what is important to focus on."

It is an interesting theory. I've always been amazed that in large, noisy crowds we can pick out one person and follow what they are saying.

 

[AnalogSteph]

I've always been amazed that in large, noisy crowds we can pick out one person and follow what they are saying.

I've always been amazed at how normies seemed to have this kind of ability while I was really struggling with it under the same circumstances. Ah, life on the spectrum... (That being said, the girl in the article seems to be substantially worse off still.)

I didn't even have any headphones into my teens, and then they were of the open variety. Mobile listening wasn't much of a thing for me until I got my first MP3 player at 23.

 

[Moonhead]

I borrowed my sons momentum4 a lot while wating for my Hexa and via my health app revelead I played Way Louder with the Sennheiser than with Thruthear...

 

[coonmanx]

I think we should worry more about how social media is destroying people's brains...

 

[617]

I've always been amazed at how normies seemed to have this kind of ability while I was really struggling with it under the same circumstances. Ah, life on the spectrum... (That being said, the girl in the article seems to be substantially worse off still.)

I didn't even have any headphones into my teens, and then they were of the open variety. Mobile listening wasn't much of a thing for me until I got my first MP3 player at 23.

Yeah I am sensitive to noise as well and I love my anc headphones but they can be a little addictive. I don't wear them for hours on end but if I do, the world is definitely more annoying when I take them off. Still a net positive for me though.

 

[BeeKay]

I think we should worry more about how social media is destroying people's brains...

For 2021 there is a number of 48% of all mobile internet downstream traffic. That’s video. You can place your bets how the categories looked like inside.