An expert on hearing says not to use noise-canceling headphones because they are making some people lose their hearing.
In today's world, too much noise is a common problem, and noise-canceling headphones have become a solution for many people. But hearing experts warn that they can be so harmful to some users that they may even cause hearing loss.
Several hearing experts interviewed by the BBC confirmed a rise in the number of young people suffering from auditory processing disorder (APD). This is a condition in which the brain has difficulty interpreting sounds and speech, even when the affected person's hearing is normal.
Until now, TPA has been linked to brain damage, ear infections, and neurological problems, but in younger patients who do not suffer from these conditions, audiologists believe the cause is noise-canceling headphones.
Noise cancellation and the teenage brain
People with ADHD can hear perfectly well, but their brains don't interpret sounds. There are many degrees of difficulty, ranging from not knowing where a sound is coming from to not understanding the words they hear because their brains perceive them as mere noise.
This is the case of Sophie, a 25-year-old administrative worker, who has been struggling to understand spoken language for some time. She understands some phrases, while others sound like they're being spoken in a foreign tongue. The reason? Sophie has been wearing noise-canceling headphones for more than five hours a day for years.
According to Claire Benton, vice president of the British Association of Audiologists, in an interview with the BBC, using noise cancellation for several hours a day is not recommended until the brain has not yet acquired all its auditory skills—that is, until the end of adolescence.
Noise cancellation can prevent the brain from learning to distinguish between speech sounds and noise, or from isolating unimportant background noise from important noise.
Experts believe this problem only affects people under 18. At this age, noise-canceling headphones should be used sparingly, only for short periods each day when truly needed, and not constantly, as many people do now. This will save you from hearing problems in the future.