I used to mow lawns growing up. Would listen to headphones to drown out the mower. 30 years later I essentially hear this 24/7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D96_1AsUajA My wife (and everyone else who knows me) knows my general hearing is bad, but not horribly so, and much worse in noisy situations. There are times when I don’t hear that tone as much, but it’s there every morning when I wake up and it’s quiet.

Also, at max volume, I had to hold the phone speaker on my ear to make sure that video was even making a noise.

Frequencies above 6k-7k have disappeared/are always there.

Do yourself a favor and take advantage of noise-canceling headphones so you can keep the volume down.

I’ll teach you a trick: if something really is as bad as someone says then why does everyone do it? I would say like the majority of young people on public transportation are using earbuds for their daily commute and they’re obviously not deaf

Anyways I’ve played guitar and used earbuds since like 12 and my ears are certainly not in a good place.

Listen to music at comfortable levels and don’t max it out even if it feels like you want to.

I’m far from deaf though.

Sounds like what someone says who wants to know and control what you’re listening to

Been doing it for almost 30 years. I still have better and more precise hearing than most.

However

Most people in the “headphones bad”-crowd fail to understand that it’s the volume and not the medium at fault. I’ve always been very afraid of permanent damage to my senses, ears and eyes in particular, so as much as I love head ranging to loud music, I ensure it’s not too loud. I’m the kind of person who brings earplugs to a concert (the type that dampens the audio without distorting it). I rarely need them, but I keep them with me just in case.

Fear mongering. Definitely.

Headphones don’t make you go deaf, it’s the volume level. Just keep the volume low and your hearing will be fine.

Depends entirely on the volume and time spent at that volume.

Just using headphones in general? No.

As someone who has had tinnitus for nearly 30 years, PLEASE take care of your ears. Headphones don’t always mean T, but if you listen loud enough, you WILL get T. Respect ear health.

As others have already said: take breaks. It’s really easy (speaking from experience) to “get used” to a volume level that’s way too loud, ESPECIALLY if using isolating or noise-cancelling headphones.

Part of how your brain determines if something is too loud is its contrast with the environment. Yelling at the top of your lungs sounds a lot louder in a quiet library than it does in the middle of a live concert. Taking a break both recalibrates your sense of loudness and gives your ears a rest.

If you can afford decent “reference” or “studio” headphones, you’ll enjoy the same music at MUCH quieter levels than cheaper or lower-quality headphones. They are designed to be used for long periods of time by professional audio engineers and musicians, who are notoriously protective of their hearing and perfectionistic about even the most subtle of sounds.

Although I was a broke college student and couldn’t afford hardly anything they talked about, I learned a ton scrolling through audiophile forums like Head-Fi ( https://www.head-fi.org/forums/ ). Now I’m less broke, but somehow equipment envy and window-shopping just feels more right than spending way too much money on something I probably don’t have the time to enjoy anymore… Such is life.

edit: stupid grammar mistakes

Yeah, it is a bit more fatiguing on your ears but not inherently more dangerous to them, what is important is to listen to your body and don’t push it too long for too loud. Your ears need breaks! It is weird but true. Damage doesn’t come from headphones, it comes from not paying attention to your body and not giving your ears the breaks they need.

What I would say is if you are turning up music on your headphones to drown out something else that is loud, that is when you are much more likely to hurt your ears without realizing. Try to get noise cancelling headphones if you find yourself doing that.

I have you tagged from an older post and remember your mom saying some whack ass shit in another post you made. Headphones won’t make you deaf unless you’re absolutely blasting your music at full volume.

I hope you’re feeling better soon and not letting her shit get you down. You got this.

Tinnitus? Yes, if you listen to very loud music a lot for years and years. Deaf? No.

Headphones won’t break your ears any worse than loud speakers do, and noise cancelling headphones are actually a solution to blocking loud noise (e.g. construction), or for people who get overstimulated.

In fact, since headphones can block out sound you might even be listening at a lower volume than if you were trying to drown out sound with speakers, assuming the headphones have any noise cancellation (even just muffled cups). Even just competing with ambient noise can cause us to raise volumes more than necessary.

Like everything in life, most dangers is a matter of quantity.

Listening to music with headphones is a fantastic way to enjoy music, as long as you are reasonable, it is fine to listen to music loud enough to drown out other sounds for periods.

Back in 2022, I got double flat feet, double heel spurs and a bad knee at the same time, walking was agony at the end of the day, so when I had to walk home from the bus stop, I put on some quite loud Sabaton in my headphones, used that to gather strength to move, usually ending up crying hard as I dragged myself up the path to my apartment building.

I still hear ok, sure, I have a bit of bad hearing, but that was something I had found out a decade before.

You won’t go deaf just by listening to music in headphones, they are an important tool in several sectors, especially in music, every live performance artist is wearing in ear monitors these days, they are special headphones that allow the artist to not only hear the other performers and instruments, but also protect their hearing from the extremely loud speakers and crowds at a live event.

Then you have the people working post production, they all wear headphones all day, you have radio DJs, they also wear headphones all day, pilots, air traffic controllers, police, security guards, and similar professions also often wear head phones constantly.

What you are being told about headphones is just fearmongering, but built on a small kernel of truth, loud sounds can and will damage your ears, but that goes for all loud noise, not just headphones.

Ask yourself:

Do you like to hear loud music? At all?

If yes, then you are in danger. Then you need to be careful all the time, and even more so with headphones, because the feeling of loudness is disturbed a little with headphones.

Otherwise, forget it all.