Hearing loss

The other day I noticed that I played my iPod so loudly at the station. The volume was set so high so that I hear the music despite the roar of the train. When I got home and played it again it was so noisy. Loud music was featured in several news and books.

The quotation of one of the famous rock musicians' high school year book went: "If it ain't loud, it ain't rock". Now when his head is accidentally covered by his pillow, he hear the alarm clock faint thick, thick, thick, not the blaring BEEP, BEEP, BEEP. In noisy restaurants he observes the mouth of his friend so that he understands the conversation.

One in six boomers have hearing loss like his, a report says. They are the first generation of rock'n'roll music. Aging conspires with long-time exposure to loud music and causes deafness to them. A number find themselves jacking up the volume on their television, cringing at boisterous parties, and shouting "What!?" into their cell phones. Not only loud music but also factory noise, construction din and roar of subways can be to blame.

Since portable music devices have become so common, we should be careful not to abuse our ears; otherwise we might develop hearing loss when we get older and regret what we did. There are some helpful options: the noise-cancelling function provides clearer music and lets you lower the volume of your music devices. Also you can set a limit to the volume on the new generation of iPod so that you won't injure your ears even when the volume gets accidentally increased.

References:

The New York Times, June 12th 2007