There is a new health concern cropping up across the UK, particularly affecting young adults, and experts believe one common piece of tech is the cause. We asked an audio expert to explain.
It’s no secret that prolonged headphone usage at high volumes could be damaging to your hearing. In fact, it’s become such a prevalent concern, that Apple and Android have integrated volume safety warnings into their devices. But there is a new health concern surrounding headphone use that has less to do with its impact on hearing and more to do with our ability to listen. One type of headphone in particular may be to blame.
The UK headphone market continues to see surging demand for noise-cancelling options, according to Statista. But it seems that noise-cancelling headphones and earbuds are impacting the ability of young adults in particular to register and interpret sounds, instead rewiring their brains to tune out.
A recent BBC report confirmed that there are an increasing number of young adults mistaking their inability to process sound as a hearing issue. Commenting on the new research, Hannah Samuels, audiologist at Boots Hearingcare, tells The Mirror: “It is concerning to know that so many young adults are having difficulty with speech in noise and that it could be down to something so simple.
“From my understanding, the pattern we’re seeing is that increasing numbers of young adults are attending healthcare specialists for help with their hearing only to produce a normal result in a hearing test. This can indicate that the issue instead is with processing, not hearing, and initial research out there suggests it could be down to noise cancelling headphones and ear buds.”
Filtering out noise in a crowded bus or in a busy library is understandable, and blocking out certain sounds is even a natural evolution, explains Samuels. “Processing speech in noise and blocking out the surroundings subconsciously is something your brain would learn in typical day to day environments.
She continues: “Think of a ticking clock in your living room – it will tick all day every day, but you don’t necessarily hear it the whole time as your brain learns it is a secondary sound in the environment.”
But today, it is common for young adults to use noise-cancelling mode as a default when watching videos. The majority of UK young adults (18-25) even add subtitles for videos that they can hear perfectly well. According to Samuels, this overreliance on noise-cancelling tech is rewiring young minds to filter out noise as a default.
“By younger generations spending a large amount of their time in noise cancelling tech, their brain could be ‘unlearning’ this important sorting technique. Hearing is not adjacent to listening and it is important that we take care not to cause unnecessary fatigue through increased listening effort due to simply not being used to it.”
Noise-cancelling headphones are still safe to use but users should employ caution when it comes to sustained daily use, concludes Samuels. Just as you would when you see one of those pesky volume warnings pop up.