Walking through the noisy streets in the early morning, listening to Zhou Dong's "Code Word" with headphones; You, who are writing hard in the library, listen to Bach's G minor with headphones on. Whether the headphones that accompany you day and night are a haven for immersion in your personal world, or poisonous tails that damage the health of your ears; Whether it is your unchanging faith in this life, or the electromagnetic cannon that beats in your ears.
Hello Wis, I'm a big white. Today we will talk about headphones and health.
Ask everyone, are they all heavy headphone enthusiasts, and they have to wear them to bed every night. Will the incorrect use of headphones cause harm to our bodies and cause deafness and tinnitus?
First, let's take a look
1. The mechanism of hearing
The ear is our auditory receptor, which is roughly divided into the outer ear, middle ear, and inner ear. When sound is produced outside, our outer ear canal collects sound waves and strikes the eardrum, just like playing a drum.
Tapping the eardrum causes a vibration, which can be transmitted to the back of the eardrum, and after the drum is linked to the vibration in front, it is transmitted to the cochlea of the inner ear after pressure swinging. This cochlea is filled with lymph fluid, and when it vibrates, this lymph fluid wanders with it, and at the same time pulls the hair cells in the ear socket to wander with it. As soon as the hair cells wander, they cause ion channels to open and produce nerve signals. Nerve signals are transmitted to the auditory cortex of the brain to produce hearing. This whole process is called the air conduction of sound.
To put it bluntly, we can hear sound, that is, the ear turns sound waves into mechanical signals, and then into neural signals, so that our brain can recognize a behavior.
In addition to air conduction, sound can be bone conduction. As the name suggests, sound waves avoid the external auditory canal to hit the inside of the eardrum, and directly vibrate the lymph in the ear socket through the bones. The most famous is when Beethoven is about to lose his hearing, biting a stick in his mouth and putting the other head on the piano. The piano vibrates the stick, which vibrates the teeth and skull, and then the sensation of hearing is produced
Then we understand the mechanism of hearing, and the relationship between headphones and ears is easy to talk about
2. The harm of the wrong earphone and how to use it correctly
A Hearing effects
Globally, about 1.1 billion adolescents suffer hearing damage due to the incorrect use of audio devices such as headphones. You may think that number is a bit too much, but in fact you may have already harmed, just you don't know. Because although the frequency range of our human ear can hear sound is 20-20,000 hertz, we usually contact more audio range is between 80-2,500 hertz, may really measure 18,000 audio, you can't hear, this is considered hearing loss.
More typical is high-frequency hearing loss, and the hair cells responsible for high-frequency are damaged. One of the factors that damage our hair cells is noise, and in general, noise with a sound intensity of more than 85 dB is hearing instructive
To put it bluntly, the sound is too loud, the louder the eardrum prick, this mechanical stimulation keeps vibrating your ear socket
Then what do you say that people can withstand vibration every day, which first causes certain mechanical damage. Then this irritation can cause:
There is an increase in oxygen radicals in the inner ear, and too many oxygen free radicals can cause blood vessels in the inner ear to constrict. That blood vessel constricts the blood flow is not down, is there no one to provide nutrients to your hair cells, hair cells will be over and will not regenerate, this is noise deafness. Let's see how much decibels the sound intensity is when you usually wear headphones to play songs. No need to look at it, anyway, I can't measure it accurately. But if you think about it when you are quiet, you must have a low volume; The surroundings are noisy and the volume is definitely louder.
Probably more than 85 db at this time. Therefore, when using headphones, we must avoid using them in too noisy environments, or use noise-canceling headphones, the purpose is to reduce the volume while hearing clearly.
According to the World Health Assembly's guidelines for the safe use of headphones, the volume should not exceed 60% of the maximum volume.
Then there was a problem again at this time. If I turn down the volume of the headphones, can I wear them all the time without hurting my ears?
[Theoretically, it really can] because if only from the perspective of volume, the decibels do not exceed the threshold, and if it does not exceed him, it will be fine
If you exceed the pre-value, no matter what the device, it will cause damage to your ears.
However, according to the actual situation, it is still recommended that you continue to wear headphones for no more than 60 minutes while not exceeding 60% of the maximum volume, that is, the 60-60 principle. Because wearing headphones for a long time can cause another type of damage to our ears
B Ear disease
Although the use of headphones at low volume can not directly affect our hearing, if it is used for a long time, it will increase the chance of mechanical pressure rubber allergy, bacterial infection and so on. Typical diseases are otitis externa, otitis media, sudden deafness, etc
Then the symptoms associated with these diseases are not only the problem of hearing loss, but also deafness, tinnitus, and deafness. Even more severe it will affect the nearby skull area, and facial nerve paralysis is possible.
First of all, the ear tympanic chamber has two channels, one is the ear canal that everyone knows, and the other is the dark passage of the ear [Eustachian tube]
As the name suggests, the Eustachian tube must be related to the pharynx. The Eustachian tube opens when you open your mouth to allow air to circulate. When the mouth is closed, the tube may open small, and the air will not flow. He slept without squeaking, blocked the dark passage, and wore headphones
Or into the ear blocked ear canal, the air has not been circulating, it is easy to cause the eustachian tube infection and swelling, you may get otitis media.
Therefore, we still try to avoid using headphones for a long time. Follow the 60-60 rule and remember to take a break every 60 minutes. Of course, the harm of wearing headphones for a long time is far more than that, the most direct is that your headphones are dirty and not pulled, causing otitis externa.
Then we know the harm of these misuse, and how to use them correctly, let's talk about it next
3. Prevention of headphone hazards
A choice of headphones
In order to ensure that 60% of the volume can be heard clearly, it is recommended to use noise-canceling headphones in noisy situations. The ambient sound is quiet, and you will naturally turn down the volume. However, if in quiet situations, in-ear headphones are not recommended. Because it fits too closely with the ear canal and hinders air circulation, it is easy to cause secretory otitis media.
In addition, because the material used in some inferior headphones is not guaranteed, long-term use may cause swelling of the stratum corneum of the skin of the external auditory canal, so it is not recommended to use. Similarly, in addition to the volume, the use of earbuds will also encounter the above problems.
bCleaning of headphones
Let's take out your headphones now and see how much ear poop you get. Now in-ear headphones, can't you all come with your own silicone sleeve, change them if you have nothing to do. That ordinary headphones have nothing to wipe with an alcohol toothpick, which will greatly reduce the risk of ear infection.
Finally, I hope that everyone can use the headphones correctly to get rid of the risk of ear canal infection, and thank you very much for your support.
I'm a big white, we'll see you next time.