BY VAISHALI TOURANI
Staff Writer

Freshmen Zoe Vongtau and Taylor Donahue are not unusual among Baldwin students in their habit of listening to music through earbuds with the volume set at the maximum level.

“I listen to music a lot on the bus, going to school and coming back home,” Vongtau said. “I have to have the volume all the way up.”

Donahue agreed.

“I feel like I need to have it like that,” Donahue said. “Being in a quiet environment is the only time I’m limited to listening to music at a lower volume.”

But they and others at Baldwin who turn the volume all the way up may want to reconsider. A World Health Organization campaign says listening at high volumes with earbuds or headphones can cause hearing loss in a very short time.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, experts have concluded that listening to loud music through earbuds or headphones for over an hour puts listeners at risk for hearing loss.

The World Health Organization is encouraging music fans to limit listening to less than an hour a day unless the volume is set at less than 85 decibels, which is equivalent to the sound of the beep of a microwave. When the volume is more than 85 decibels, the risk of hearing loss is greater, and listening should be limited to 15 minutes, the group said.

A 2011 study by the Journal of American Academy of Audiology, determined that listening to music with the white Apple earbuds at maximum volume is equivalent to 102 decibels.

High school nurse Carol Wehner agreed that listening to loud music can be dangerous.

“When the music you’re listening to is too loud, your receptors get crunched up,” Wehner said. “When you’re not exposed to loud music for a while and then come back to it, it causes permanent damage in your ears. Once your hearing goes, it’s difficult to get it back.”

The Journal article cited a 2010 study that said hearing loss among teens had grown by a third over the last 20 years. But Baldwin students interviewed for this story said they had not noticed any hearing loss.

In addition to using earbuds with the music at maximum volume, Vongtau said she goes to a minimum of one concert per month without wearing earplugs, but she hasn’t noticed any hearing loss.

Junior Myleek Montgomery also listens to music frequently at high volume. He said he has not noticed any hearing loss.

Being aware of the possible effects of hearing does not resonate with Vongtau, however.

“I don’t think I’m going to change the volume,” Vongtau said. “It does nothing to me.”