According to the World Health Organization, a global group that studies public health, 1.1 billion young adults are at risk of developing hearing loss. Smartphones are largely to blame. Can some headphones really damage your hearing?
Nerves carry messages to each other, such as sounds or sensations. Most hearing loss is the result of nerve wreck. Scientists use decibels to measure volume. You can listen to 85 decibels pretty much all day without causing any damage. That is about the noise level of busy city traffic. Things quickly become dangerous once you get louder than that. The noise level produced at a rock concert or by a chain saw is about 115 decibels. At this level, damage can happen in less than a minute. You might not immediately notice large hearing loss. It will add up over time. Some smartphones can crank (调高) music to 120 decibels. Say: you listen to 10 songs in a row at that volume. You might notice hearing loss by the time you take off your headphones.
What kind of headphones should people use? All of them have different benefits and downsides. Ear buds have a bad reputation because they sit in your ear canal. This allows them to release the sound closer to your ear. That means what you hear is almost the full force of the sound. Big, padded over-ear headphones do not sit as close to your eardrum. They still trap in sound, though. Sound from these headphones also reaches your eardrum at nearly full force. Then there are some special over-ear headphones, the kind with foam (泡沫) earphone covers which are better at blocking noise. They deliver sound around your ear instead of straight into it. It might not sound as good, but it’s healthier for your ears. Solid-plastic in-ear headphones are not very good at blocking out background noise. This might make you want to pump up the volume.
Doctors recommend that their patients get fitted for headphones which will help block background noise. In theory, this should encourage people to listen at lower volumes. But they are not sure it works that way because they think people just have a habit of turning it all the way up.
【小题1】What does the word “wreck” in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Loss. | B．Damage. | C．Tension. | D．Decrease. |
| A．Driving at the city center. | B．Enjoying ten songs. |
| C．Using a chain saw. | D．Watching an action movie. |
| A．It is the volume that really damages people’s hearing |
| B．It’s unnecessary to turn down the volume for people with normal hearing |
| C．Picking right headphones has nothing to do with people’s hearing. |
| D．A good pair of headphones can adjust the volume of the smartphone. |
| A．Solid-plastic in-ear headphones. | B．Tiny in-ear headphones. |
| C．Big padded over-ear headphones. | D．Special over-ear headphones. |
