‘What we are working on now in WHO is to develop that kind of regulatory framework about the different venues – which could be restaurants, bars, concerts, it could even be fitness classes which often have very high levels of sound being played and exposure for a long time,’ says the WHO’s Dr Shelly Chadha.
William Shapiro, a clinical associate professor at New York University Langone, explained in January 2018 that damaging the inner-ear’s hair cells is how headphone-related hearing loss begins.
‘If you’re using an earbud [headphone], a good rule is 60 per cent of the volume no more than 60 minutes a day,’ he said.
He also recommended using noise-cancelling headphones. ‘A lot of individuals will crank up the volume because they don’t want to hear outside noise.
‘Wearing noise cancelling headphones reduces the outside noise which allows us to reduce the volume of the sound we’re listening to.
‘So it’s very important to keep sound at a low level.’