Views:542 | By: Isaac When I was growing up and I had attained the age of owing a phone as it has always been the culture to have a phone at 18, my Dad always warned me and as a matter of fact he was always too harsh against use of headphones.

I used to think it was the fashion way of doing things and I could always hide from him and wear secretly just to make sure girls saw how fashioned I was. Right now, after knowing more about health I never hesitate to thank that old wise mine who always wanted the best for me only that I never realized.

Currently, the largest population have earphones and headphones which they always hang on their ears, either wireless or corded. If you don't believe me just keep an eye on people in the bus when travelling, in a cafe taking coffee, on the busy streets, students in library or while idling around in the school compound.

Normally in normal hearing, you should perceive as low as 15 decibels of sound, whereas while using a headphone you expose your ears to about 80-100 decibels of sound. Lets be logic here, don't you think you are either deaf or else you are welcoming deafness? You may think you are creating peace for others while you are completely destroying your own peace in future.

In addition to that, sharing of earphones is another predisposing factor to ear infections, some of which may result to permanent ear damage or complications which includes meningitis.

It may sound simple but complications related to use of headphones outweigh their advantages. Headphones have some auditory short and long term effect. These are,

•Tinnitus which means abnormal noises in the ears, ringing, buzzing, hissing or whistling.
•Air conduction hearing loss which may be secondary to damage of the tympanic membrane or inflammation of the external auditory meatus.
•Ear pain.
•Dizziness due to increased pressure in the eustachian tube.

But at the end of the day there some solutions to these.
Some of them include:

The most basic change is to not keep the volume very high.

Restrict your exposure to loud noise as well as the duration.

Make use of noise-cancelling headphones.

Use over-the-ear-model to avoid direct sound vibrations to the (tympanic membrane) eardrums as well as direct contact with the auditory canal.

Regularly sanitize the headphones to stop a buildup of bacteria, sweat and shed skin

Avoid using earphones when travelling by car, bus, train or even walking. Travelling in an already noisy public transport adds to the decibel level to about 180db due to the surrounding sounds.