Doctors Warn of Dangers of Ear Buds

Josh Musto’s hearing loss began early in his life , it was triggered first by a heavy metal concert and it becomes worst by years of playing guitar in 2 bands. Listening to a loud music constantly using an ear buds may be to blame for a ringing in his ears.

"I've been a musician forever," said Musto, now 21 and a junior at the New School in New York City. "There's a lot of noise in my life.”

Josh Musto is not alone as Doctors warned music lovers  that a steady onslaught of a loud noise, particularly using an ear buds, is damaging the hearing of this generation which is wired for sound although we may not realize it for years.

Even the World Health Organization already warned that 1.1 billion young people are at risk of hearing loss because of personal audio devices usage, such as some smartphones, and damaging levels of sound at entertainment venues like some electronic dance music festivals, where the noise levels can top 120 decibels for hours.

"Probably the largest cause [of hearing damage] is millennials using iPods and [smartphones]," says Dr. Sreekant Cherukuri, an ear, nose, and throat specialist from Munster, Indiana.

Hearing loss among today's teens is about 30 % higher than in the year 1980s and 1990s, Dr. Cherukuri estimates.

"You (once) had a Walkman with two AA batteries and headphone thongs that went over your ears," he told NBC News. "At high volume, the sound was so distorted and the battery life was poor. Nowadays, we have smart phones that are extremely complex computers with high-level fidelity."

Dr Cherukuri tells young patients to stop wearing headphones especially the earbuds, which place the sound closer to the ear drum, enhancing volume by as much as 9 decibels.

"It's very easy to achieve unknowingly," he said.


Repeated exposure to sound over 85 decibels can cause major hearing loss. The Permanent damage can only happen in minutes, experts say, and when the damage is done, it's irreversible. This is According to the National Institutes of Health

"Noise exposure in kids is a growing concern," said Nicole Raia, a clinical audiologist at University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey.

Raia said she sees more tinnitus in young people, an early sign of hearing loss, but, "we don't catch them until they are in their 20s and 30s."

And because audio-screening protocols are not that sophisticated, many children with subtle damage pass hearing tests, she added.