Can Using My Headphones Cause Tinnitus?

If you use headphones, here are a few facts to know and precautions to take to avoid listening for too long or at unsafe volume levels.

Loud Noise Exposure and Tinnitus

Too much exposure to any loud noise can cause hearing loss, and it’s becoming increasingly common among young people.

Noise exposure is a common element of modern life, and many of those noises are loud. And for younger individuals in particular, many popular activities are loud, including hobbies such as taking workout classes with music blasting, gaming with headphones on, or attending noisy sports games and concerts.

It’s also getting more and more common to spend more of the day with headphones on — whether you’re listening to music while exercising, commuting, getting work done, or even sleeping.

Kit Frank, an audiologist and the founder of The Hearing Hub in Las Vegas, reports seeing more hearing loss among her young patients. And she suspects that headphones are partially to blame. “It’s just a more common thing to have something in your ear, and we’re putting more stress on the ears than ever.”

Protecting Your Ears: Safe Volume and Duration With Headphones

They also recommend that you:

• Keep the volume as low as possible while listening to music.
• Limit time spent on noisy activities — including those at work, at home, and during leisure.
• Monitor safe listening levels over personal audio systems and in noisy spaces; heed the warning signs of hearing loss.
• Discuss any hearing concerns with your primary care doctor and periodically have your hearing checked.

Headphone Choice and Hearing Risk

To minimize damage to your ears, Frank recommends choosing your headphones wisely. She says over-the-ear headphones are a better option than earbuds that go directly into your ear. “The over-the-ear ones are good because they’re not so deep in your ear,” she says. (Which means equivalent volumes will be less damaging.)

Frank also suggests choosing headphones with noise-canceling capabilities. “Noise-cancellation headphones cancel out the background noise,” she says. “If you’re usually cranking up your volume, you don’t have to crank up the volume of what you’re listening to as much [with noise-canceling headphones].”

However, she also advises that noise-canceling headphones are not risk-free. “Noise-cancellation headphones can help cancel out background noise but should be used in moderation,” she advises. “This can help you avoid potential safety risks from being unaware of your environment or leading to auditory deprivation."

If you aren’t a fan of over-the-ear headphones, look for loose-fitting earbuds, which expose the ear to a lower sound pressure level than ones that fit snugly in the ear canal.