Hearing Loss In Teens Due to Earbuds/Common Headphones

(Editorial note: The German headphone manufacturer Ultrasone recently authorized its U.S. press relations agent, Brian Metcalf of the Max Borges Agency, to send an Email to AVguide.com with this subject line: “Hearing Loss In Teens Due to Earbuds/Common Headphones”.

Citing a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the letter argues that headphone-induced hearing loss has much to do with the fact that many headphone designs “pipe sound directly down your ear canal,” rather than directing sound first toward the pinna (the outer ear) and “then to your ear drum.”

According to the letter, Ultrasone believes its headphone designs, which incorporate patented S-Logic Technology, can help combat this problem by engaging the outer ear while reducing sound pressure levels on the eardrum by “up to 40 percent.”

Below, we present the text of the Ultrasone-authorized letter, which includes links both to the JAMA hearing loss study and to an overview on Ultrasone’s S-Logic Technology.)
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Hearing Loss In Teens Due to Earbuds/Common Headphones

Hearing loss is on the rise, especially in teens, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The issue is the design of most earbuds and over-the-ear headphones. Rather than letting your ear process sound naturally, via your pinna (outer ear), to your ear canal & then to your eardrum, most conventional headphones and especially earbuds pipe sound directly down your ear canal.

By directing sound to the pinna, as is the case with Ultrasone’s patented S-Logic technology, sound pressure on the eardrum is reduced up to 40% (or 3 -4 decibels). Processing sound with the pinna is also the way the ear & brain determine distance & direction, so listening to music with Ultrasone headphones creates a natural three-dimensional sound without damaging the inner ear.

If the ear was intended to have sound piped directly down the ear canal, it would have been designed to look like the image on the right (Figure 1). It wasn’t created like this, so unfortunately most headphones are built with a fundamental design flaw.

I would love to share more details about Ultrasone’s safe listening technologies with you; I truly believe your audience would benefit from learning about them.

Best regards,

Brian Metcalf
Max Borges Agency

inquiries@maxborgesagency.com