Most of us like to listen to music. iPods and MP3 players have made this much easier to listen to just what we want to hear.
The problem is, most of us are listening too loud.
Did you know that earphones turned up to maximum can actually exceed the noise level that you would hear at a rock concert? In fact, recent studies at Boston University have shown that when you use earphones other than those that come with the mp3 player (unfortunately, these are the ones that usually sound the best!), sound levels can reach as high as 139 dB-- about the noise of a jet airplane on take off! It only takes a few minutes of exposure to those levels of sound to start hearing loss.
The recommended rule of thumb is no more than 60 minutes at no louder than 60% of maximum output. Keep that in mind and your more likely to keep your hearing!
