When listening to music at a loud volume with a mobile phone or a portable music player, the ability to listen clearly to the sound becomes weak

ByIcedsoul photography.: Teymur madjderey

It is a national research institutionNatural Science Research OrganizationBelongs toPhysiology InstituteAccording to the announcement, if surrounding noise is noisy, if you raise the volume of the portable music player or mobile phone and continue listening to the music at a loud volume, even if the hearing test is normal, the ability to distinguish the sound from the noise (The ability to clearly listen to the sound) will be weakened.

Details of what mechanism it will be like are as follows.
Attention to portable music player regular users! Auditory abnormality to "clear distinction of sound" If you keep listening at high volume, you will not hear the sound vividly, without knowing / / Institute of Physiology of Natural Sciences Research Organization


This time, Professor Hidehiko Okamoto of Associate Professor of Natural Sciences Institute Physiology Institute, Professor Ryusuke Kakiki and a research group of Germany cooperate and when listening to music at loud volume under noisy circumstances, even if hearing test is normal , The power to distinguish the sound from the noise (the ability to clearly listen to the sound) became weak.

This is a hearing abnormality related to "distinction of sound (clarity of sound)" which is not obvious in ordinary auditory tests that tests the hearing by letting out each sound, and also recommends a method of future examination methods It is said that it is research result that gives.

First, the research group recorded 13 brain responses to sound using the biomagnetic measurement device MEG (magnetoencephalography), and 13 young people (regulars) who are listening to portable music players from ordinary loudness and young people not like 13 Let the name (emergency user) see a movie, relaxing etc, let the noise of a specific frequency together with noise record the reaction of the brain at that time. Then, the ability to distinguish the sound from the noise is getting weaker for portable music player regular users. In a usual auditory examination to have a concentration in silence and to check whether sound of a specific frequency can be heard or not heard, since there is no difference whether it is a regular user or an emergency user, it is difficult to hear audible That is abnormal.

According to Okamoto, Assistant Professor Okamoto says, "Even if it is said that hearing is normal in the conventional examination method, the ability to clearly distinguish the sound without knowing it is reduced, and the load on the brain and hearing nerves is considered to be burdensome. When enjoying portable music players in places, do not make them loud, I'd like you to use the noise canceller and other functions to make the sound discreet. "

This is the auditory response of the brain recorded by MEG


Comparing the magnitude of auditory reaction between regulars and emergency users, this is what happens.


In other words, how to hear the sound in the noise is getting worse without knowing, and this is thought to have put a strain on the nerves of the brain and hearing, in order to find such abnormality earlier in the future It is thought that it is better to do hearing in noise test (examination to distinguish the sound in the presence of noise) which is auditory test that can reflect the clarity of such sounds.

Also, since it is considered that hearing abnormality is occurring without knowing that the sound of loud volume continues to be heard, if the surroundings are loud and noisy, the volume of the portable music player is not raised , It would be better to use a function such as noise canceller that cancels ambient noise.