Ear buds, bad for ears.

“Maybe the danger of digital culture to young people is not that they have hummingbird attention spans but that they are going deaf,” Virginia Heffernan argued in her NY Times article, Against Headphones.  Ear buds create a different kind of ear damage than headphones that sit outside the ear,  and since the introduction of the iPod nearly a decade ago, most people spend a significant amount of time during the day budded up. One report Heffernan cited, states that “Headphone users who listen to music at high volumes for more than an hour a day risk permanent hearing loss after five years.”

Ex-Sassy writer, Christina Kelly chimed in on her blog saying, “No offense to the scientists who conducted the research, because I’m excited to have proof–but we needed a study to prove this? Really, that blasting music into a device that you shove in your ears will cause hearing loss?” Kelly goes on to say that the ear bud is the thong of the head or something like that. Kelly also brings up pain from the actual bud as a deterrent. “Doesn’t it hurt you to cram those things into your ears?” she asks. “I just won’t do it.”

Would you trade in your ear buds for an old fashioned, over-the-ears set of headphones? Think about it for a minute and then check your hearing here.

Via: The New York Times & Fallen Princess