‘Body Electric’: How Our Headphone Habits Affect Our Hearing

The World Health Organization says more than 1 billion teens and young adults are at risk of permanent hearing loss due to “unsafe listening practices.” Is it time to change our headphone habits?

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

OK. Sorry in advance, but are you ready for today’s alarming health statistic? According to the World Health Organization, more than 1 billion teens and young adults aged 12 to 35 are at risk of permanent, avoidable hearing loss due to, quote-unquote, “unsafe listening practices.” Why is this happening? Well, one reason – headphones and earbuds. NPR host Manoush Zomorodi has been talking about how our headphone habits are affecting our hearing on the latest episode of Body Electric, and she’s here with us now to tell us more about it. Good morning, Manoush.

MANOUSH ZOMORODI, BYLINE: Good morning, Michel.

MARTIN: So what does the W.H.O. mean by unsafe listening practices?

ZOMORODI: Yeah. So part of the problem is spending time in noisy places. But also, as you mentioned, we have a growing headphone habit. Last year, consumers bought twice the number of headphones than they did a decade before. That was over half a billion pairs. These devices are integrated into our lives like never before. So we asked listeners about how they listen these days. I want to play you clips from Aaron Kalasher-Coggins (ph), Diego Rojas (ph), and Megan Monteleone (ph).