Noise-canceling headphones should be avoided, according to a hearing expert. Some people are starting to lose their hearing because of them
Many people have found that noise-canceling headphones are the solution to the epidemic of excessive noise in today's society. But hearing experts warn they can be so harmful to some users that they can't hear.
The rise in young people with auditory processing disorder (APD), a condition in which the brain has trouble interpreting speech and sounds, even when the affected person's hearing is normal, was confirmed by a number of hearing experts interviewed by the BBC.
Until now, TPA has been linked to brain damage, ear infections, and neurological problems, but in younger patients who don't have these conditions, audiologists believe noise-canceling headphones are the culprit.
Noise Cancellation and the Teenage Brain
Although their brains are unable to interpret sounds, people with ADHD can hear perfectly. There are many degrees, from not knowing where the sound they hear is coming from, to not understanding the words they hear because to their brain it's just noise.
This is the case of Sophie, a 25-year-old administrative worker, who has had difficulty understanding spoken language for some time. Some phrases she understands, and others sound like they are spoken in an unknown language. The reason? Sophie has been wearing noise-canceling headphones for more than five hours a day for years.
According to Claire Benton, vice president of the British Association of Audiologists, in an interview with the BBC, using noise cancellation for several hours a day is not recommended when the brain has not yet acquired all its hearing skills, which is until the end of adolescence.
Noise cancellation can prevent the brain from learning to distinguish between speech sounds and noise or from isolating unimportant background noise from important noise.
Experts love this problem only affects people under 18 years old. At this age, noise cancelling headphones should be used sparingly, only for a short time a day, when they are really needed, and not for everything, as many people do now. It will save you from hearing problems in the future.