Are earbuds bad for your ears?
While earbuds make life more interesting and enjoyable, there are some earbuds health risks you should know about.
Hearing loss from earbuds
The biggest potential risk of using earbuds is hearing loss and tinnitus resulting from damage to your inner ear.
In-ear earbuds play music directly into your ear canal. When the soundwave from the music reaches your eardrum, it creates a vibration that’s passed through the tiny bones of your middle ear and then into your inner ear.
Your inner ear is covered with delicate hair cells and the vibrations cause these hairs to move. This movement creates an electrical impulse that’s sent to the brain where it’s interpreted as sound. If your music is too loud, it can permanently damage these hair cells, making it so they don’t send out electrical impulses in response to vibration. And, without these electrical impulses, your brain doesn’t know there’s anything to hear, or what it does hear may sound unclear or distorted.
Irritation or ear infections from earbuds
Here’s a fact that comes as no surprise: earbuds can get very dirty. For starters, there’s earwax, oil from your skin and dried sweat from your ears. Then there’s dirt and grime that collect when the earbuds aren’t being used.
In most cases, dirty earbuds are just gross, but they can also increase your risk of infection. Earbuds can get covered in bacteria, fungus or skin irritants that could get into your ear canal when you insert them – but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get an ear infection.
Usually, your earwax helps protect you from dirt, fungi and bacteria when it gets in your ears. Still, there are a few reasons why earbud users are more likely to get ear infections:
Damage to the ear canal or eardrum – When there’s damage to your ear, the bacteria or fungi can find a way into your body, causing an infection. If the skin in your ear canal is scratched or irritated, you’re more likely to get an outer ear infection also known as swimmer’s ear. If you have a burst eardrum from listening to music too loudly, it increases your chance of a middle ear infection.
Warmth and moisture – Bacteria and fungi grow in warm, wet places. When you wear earbuds, that’s exactly the environment you create inside your ears.
Impacted earwax – Wearing earbuds can lead to earwax buildup. While earwax protects your ears, it’s possible to have too much. Impacted earwax can trap dirty water, fungi and bacteria, making it more likely that you’ll develop ear infections.
Radiation exposure from wireless earbuds
You may wonder, do earbuds emit radiation? The answer is yes. Bluetooth wireless earbuds send out non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation (EMR), mostly as microwaves. And wired earbuds emit extremely low frequency (ELF) radiation.
At this point, there is no conclusive evidence that earbud radiation is harmful. Earbuds are pretty new, and we don’t know if there will be long-term effects from earbud radiation. Still, earbuds are generally considered safe by the scientific community.
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Are there safer options for listening on the go?
Given the earbud health risks, maybe you’re wondering if there are better options to listen to your tunes and podcasts at work or at the mall.