Extensive use of electronic devices like earphones or earbuds in daily life can affect your health.
These days, youth have made earphones an integral part of their lives, between early morning walks, in subways, sipping a cup of coffee, traveling, vibing at a party, or while gyming, we encounter many people listening to music, podcasts, or having conversations through earphones.
Earphones and AirPods are often used nowadays, thus extreme exposure to earphones can harm ears. Excessive use of earphones can cause headaches and hearing loss.
In this article, we’ll discuss what exactly is bad and unhealthy earphone habits that need to be stopped immediately. Let’s begin!
What Is The Safe Duration For Using Earphones?
The standard duration for using earphones or earbuds is 60 minutes per day as recommended by doctors.
The moderate use of in-ear devices like earphones, headphones, or earbuds doesn’t damage your ears, but if you leave them the whole day playing loud music, they can lead to hearing loss and also damage the hair cells and cochlea.
The hair cells in the ears have the significant duty of conveying the sound message and waves to your brain. Hence when hair cells are damaged the inner condition of the ears becomes worse day by day.
Youngsters and adults across the world are facing hearing issues and ultimate hearing loss due to too much exposure to high volume.
Estimated billions of young people from different regions around the world face hearing loss issues due to high-volume exposure which can cause noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL).
Unhealthy Habits of Using Earphones
While earphones are the need of the time, this gadget is used in a very unhealthy manner.
See what unhealthy habits are, their side effects, and how to prevent an ear infection caused by them:
Using Uncleaned Earphones
Earphones are kept at different places where they are exposed to micro-organisms like bacteria and viruses which harm our ears.
Wearing earphones for more than an hour triggers the multiplication of bacteria. This is because while wearing earphones, all the dust and warmth inside your ears get trapped, making them the best place for bacteria to grow.
If you wear earphones for a long duration it collects sweat, dead skin cells, sebum, and earwax that can lead to ear pain, fungal infections, and hearing difficulty in the long term.
Moreover, sharing of earphones increases the risk of transferring bacteria from one person to another.
Therefore it’s better to use disposable earbuds so that the chance of carrying and transferring germs may decrease.
Make sure to clean your earphones regularly to avoid contracting ear infections.
Another technique to find the safest volume level of earphones is to ask people around you if they can listen to the sound of the music you are listening to so that you can adjust your volume level accordingly.
Wearing Earphones For Too Long
As discussed, using earphones for an hour and giving them a rest is the ideal way to use earphones. This method helps you protect your ears from damage and allows fresh air to enter them.
People should take a break from using earphones at least after every 1 hour to maintain good health and hygiene of their ears. People using earphones for more than 1 hour should try to reduce the listening time on earbuds gradually.
Earbuds and Airpods are extremely handy and trendy nowadays, these are small plastic and silicon gadgets, that can easily fit in your ear.
However they are exposed to the inner sensitive part of your ears which burdens your ears, thus avoid using earbuds and start using headphones instead.
As headphones are a device placed over your ears and are a little far from the eardrum and cochlea, it reduces the chances of hearing loss and earache.
By plugging earphones in for too long we make sure not to disturb other people around us while harming ourselves, which of course is not good.
Learning how to keep a balance between others’ benefits and our benefits is the key that we need to master.
Side Effects Of Using Prolonged Earphones
The long use of earphones has done no good to anybody. Check out the table below to learn the problems that are faced by people and their effects.
| Problems faced | Effects |
| Dizziness | The built-up earwax and germs cause it and may cause watery pus if not treated. |
| Hearing loss | Adults and youngsters face partial or permanent hearing loss problems due to prolonged use of earbuds. |
| Ear infections | There are external and internal ear infections caused by microorganisms and it also can cause severe swelling. |
| Ear pain | There are external and internal ear infections caused by microorganisms and they also can cause severe swelling. |
| Ear wax | Earwax gets collected in the ear and increases the risk of infections. |
| Mental health | Prolonged use of earphones can cause anxiety and depression. Loud noises can affect your brain. |
| Tinnitus | It is the noise you hear from inside your body like humming and buzzing due to continuous listening to loud music. |
| Hyperacusis | In hyperacusis, the ear becomes sensitive to loud noise. |
Check out this video for more information about earbuds and hearing loss:
How To Prevent Ear Infections?
There are a few ways in which you can prevent ear infections. They are doable, all you have to do is be careful about hygiene.
1. Change your earphones
You should change the earphones or replace the old pair of silicon/rubber earbuds with a new one after a month or two to prevent ear infections.
2. Buy a new pair
You can also clean your earphones instead of buying a new ones. The best way to clean your earbuds is firstly you should handle them carefully as they are precise and delicate.
3. Clean both
You can use rubbing alcohol or screen cleaner on a cotton bud and rub it inside the grill of the earphone, it will clean all the built-up earwax, sebum, sweat, and dirt on the earbud.
With the maintenance and cleaning of earbuds, you should also clean your ears weekly at least because more than the earphones, it is the matter of uncleaned ears and micro-organisms already trapped inside your ears that kept multiplying.
4. Buy noise-canceling earphones
People should purchase noise-canceling earphones as they restrict environmental noise which helps to hear the audio clearly, increase your concentration towards the work you are performing and you don’t have to increase the audio of your earphones and prevent them from damaging your eardrum.
Conclusion
- An untreated hearing problem can cause consequences on your mental health.
- Prevent using earphones, earbuds, or any other electronic device at a very young age, as it will indeed affect the health of little ones.
- Apply the 60/60 rule in your daily life while using earphones.
- Keep your earphones and AirPods clean and germs-free.
- Instead of earphones or earbuds close to your eardrum, use earphones to reduce the risk of hearing problems and cover the outer surface of your ear.
- Try not to use earphones for longer duration; take breaks after 30 minutes or an hour and don’t put your volume too high.
- Stop sharing your earbuds with your friends to ensure there is no transfer of microbes.
- Make sure to replace your earbuds or change them when you find them dirty.
- Make sure you consult with an ENT specialist when you feel some uneasiness in your ears, soreness, or any signs and symptoms of tinnitus or hyperacusis.
- Partial or permanent hearing loss can be treated if noticed at an early stage.