Hear All the Sounds We Love, for Life

The World Health Organization estimates that 1.1 billion teens and young adults worldwide—half the population ages 12 to 35—are at risk of permanent hearing loss from loud sounds.

It’s happening because we are spending hours and hours on personal listening devices and headphones listening to music or playing games. We also love loud recreational activities—concerts and sports, restaurants and bars. Even birthday parties and weddings can be very noisy.

And we tend to take our hearing for granted.

But the answer isn’t to stop doing the things we love. We just need to listen responsibly.

We take common-sense steps for our health every day. We rest our bodies after a workout, and we protect our skin and eyes from too much sun. We buckle up to save lives, and we make smart diet choices.

Let’s take care of our hearing, too.

After loud events, we can take listening breaks in quiet to allow our ears to recover. Let’s carry and use earplugs when needed, just like we always have our sunglasses handy (and multiple pairs).

We can turn the volume down, even a little, to help save our hearing.

If it sounds too loud, it is too loud. Hearing loss can be subtle and gradual, so it can be hard to tell when our hearing is compromised—it’s not as obvious as vision loss and often it’s our family and friends who notice first.

Hearing loss can also happen suddenly, from a one-time loud event like standing next to the speakers at a concert or having a firecracker go off too close to our ears.

We regularly monitor health metrics like our vision, weight, and blood pressure. Let’s get our hearing checked every three years, more often if we work in a noisy environment—and if our healthcare provider isn’t asking us about our hearing, we need to speak up.

What’s at Stake?

When surveyed, over half of concert goers reveal signs of hearing damage. Damage to our ears from listening too loud and/or too long can make it difficult to hear speech in noisy environments and lead to tinnitus (ringing in the ears). It can also lead to hyperacusis, or sensitivity to everyday volume levels. Both tinnitus and hyperacusis, when severe, can be debilitating and drastically affect our mental health.

When we can’t hear well, we can start to tune out, and feel isolated or embarrassed about having to ask people to repeat things. We might miss the punchline too many times.

And hearing loss is permanent. Our hearing has to last a lifetime. Healthy hearing is an important part of our overall health, our brain’s health, and our physical and mental well-being.

The Good News

Hearing damage from loud sounds is entirely preventable. Let’s take care of our hearing so we can continue to enjoy all the sounds we love, for life.

#KeepListening

• Are You at Risk?

• What Are Safe Decibels?

• Are Your Ears Ringing?

• How to Protect Your Hearing

• Hearing and Overall Health

• Test Your Hearing

• Headphone and Earbud Safety

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A Global Health Risk

Half the population ages 12 to 35 or over a billion young people around the world are at risk of hearing loss from excess noise. According to BMJ Global Health, the danger comes in particular from using headphones and earbuds and attending loud music venues, all at unsafe volumes.

The American Academy of Pediatrics warns about the dangers of noise to children and teens, including infants whose parents may be using white noise machines too loudly to help their babies sleep, and BMJ Public Health says the 3 billion-plus gamers worldwide (of which about one in five are estimated to be under age 18) are at risk of permanent hearing damage from video games and e-sports. The WHO and other key partners released a report in July 2024 showing the hearing risk among gamers worldwide but that most were willing to change habits to protect their ears.

Preliminary results from the ongoing Apple Hearing Study estimates that 1 in 3 adult Americans who wear the Apple Watch are exposed to excessive noise levels. And up to 1 in 4 U.S. adults ages 20 to 69 already shows signs of hearing loss due to noise overexposure, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

We are heartened that awareness of the dangers of noise to not only hearing but overall health increasingly is appearing in mainstream media. Together, we can prevent hearing loss from excess noise and also advocate for quieter shared public spaces.

Updated October 2024.