Can loud music damage your hearing? - Heather Malyuk

Dig into the properties of sound to find out just how bad loud music is for your hearing.

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After a concert, you find it difficult to hear your friend rave about the show. It sounds like they're speaking from across the room, and it’s tough to make out their voice over the ringing in your ears. But, by the next morning, the effect has mostly worn off. So what caused these symptoms? And can you go to concerts without damaging your ears? Heather Malyuk explores the properties of sound.

Lesson by Heather Malyuk, directed by Anne Beal.

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Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Ayala Ron, Samantha Chow, Eunsun Kim, Phyllis Dubrow, Ophelia Gibson Best, Paul Schneider, Joichiro Yamada, Henrique 'Sorín' Cassús, Lyn-z Schulte, Elaine Fitzpatrick, Karthik Cherala, Joshua Merchant, Clarence E. Harper Jr., Clarissa Bartolini-Toro, Exal Enrique Cisneros Tuch, Srikote Naewchampa, Tejas Dc, Khalifa Alhulail, Martin Stephen, Dan Paterniti, Jose Henrique Leopoldo e Silva, Elnathan Joshua Bangayan, Jayant Sahewal, Mandeep Singh, Abhijit Kiran Valluri, Morgan Williams, Kris Siverhus, Devin Harris, Joy Love Om, Pavel Zalevskiy, Marc Bilodeau, Karen Goepen-Wee, Filip Dabrowski, Barbara Smalley, Megan Douglas, Chris, Tim Leistikow, Renhe Ji, Ka-Hei Law, Leora Allen, Mark Morris, Misaki Sato, EdoKun , Amaury Bisiaux, Boytsov Ilya, SookKwan Loong, Bev Millar, Lex Azevedo, Noa Shore, Kyle Nguyen and Michael Aquilina.

[banditoff]

*That random person in a bathroom listening to a hand dryer for 8 hours:*

[nijironi]

Me: *agrees*

Also me: *plays this video in full volume*

[tsmqkbo]

I was listening to loud music, when I got this recommended...

[seemaairy]

The narrator's voice is very calming.

[Neverender]

As someone who developed tinnitus within the last 2 years from a single extremely loud concert where I was a little too close to the speakers, I really hope anyone who sees this takes it seriously. When I was younger people told me I could damage my hearing from going to loud concerts. I asked what could happen, and all I was told back then was stuff like "by the time you're 70 you might need a hearing aid!" That never seemed so bad to me. No one told me that a single loud concert can give you a permanent, incurable, chronic condition like tinnitus while you're still young, where every second of your life for as long as you live you are subjected to a constant, irritating ringing sound that never stops. I'm still only in my 20s but I have to live with this forever now. There are days when I can't ignore the ringing and it makes me depressed, and even after COVID, I can never go back to enjoying the live music I once loved for fear of it getting even worse. Please don't make the same mistake I did. Keep your headphone volume as low as you can, don't listen for too long, if you're going to a concert, find a place far from the speakers where the volume isn't too loud, and if it is too loud to the point that it's uncomfortable, then just leave. And there's nothing weird about wearing ear plugs at a concert as a preventative measure. Seems like a pain, but trust me, it's better than getting permanent hearing damage and having to live with tinnitus for the rest of your life.

[robinhahnsopran]

Hi! I'm an opera singer, and people ask me about whether or not singers hurt each other by singing too close to each other a lot, since we sing so loudly with no mic. Most opera singers sing between 90-100 decibels, and operas are long but you usually don't sit through more than three hours at once, so this explains really well why it doesn't usually hurt our hearing too much (except if a scene partner accidentally sings directly into our ears) - it stays under the threshold that causes pain! Thanks for this - now when I get asked, I'll just link people here! :)

[luigistones]

Storyteller: Can she still go to concerts without damaging her ears?
Covid: What concerts are you talking about?

[ther]

I doubt if someone turns the volume down while listening to Metal.

[Notacet]

That ”listen to 80% volume max” is pretty awful. All headphone models have different volume. 80% can be bone-crushingly loud

[paleoph]

The *a e s t h e t i c* of the animation tho

[morenapoli]

why is so satisfying to listen to music loud tho?? 😩😩

[Grdc]

I have tinnitus now, based on this video I'm guessing it's a result of me listening to loud music with my earphones for a couple of years when I was an early teen. I stopped doing that when I learned about the tiny ear hairs, that get damaged and don't recover, in biology class.
I think this type of things should be taught earlier

[cinnamonxguy]

The Animation Style is just *chef's kiss*

[salmanhaider]

That's why I love TedEd they answer all your curiosities.

[FlameXRLD]

I’ve been exposed to extremely loud sounds for extremely long periods for extremely long frequencies, I’m 17 now and I genuinely cannot comprehend normal sound level conversations from a meter away from me, even when there is almost no background noises, I’m honestly so terrified because it’s reached such a point where I cannot interact with people or hear things because everything is way too quiet for me, and I don’t know how bad it’s going to be as I grow older, I’m horrified of the future now

[Phoebe-ynjr]

Now I understand... When I plug in the earphones on my phone and set the volume to max, a pop-up will appear asking me if I want to go above recommended volume... Well, I'm a person who likes hearing loud pleasant things in my ears (like music) becuz it makes me comfortable and I won't get distracted from my work which makes me listen to loud music for more than 3 hours. I've been ignoring the warning.. but since I saw this, I'm able to be aware! Thanks!!

[beytullahberk]

i just can't listen to some songs on low volumes, it's like they're made to be played loudly and don't sound the same if it isn't loud enough.

[marrs]

Some people love loud music and hey I have nothing against that, way too loud can really damage your ears.

[aG-tduu]

The craziest part of this video is that someone who went to a rock concert the night before can wake up at 7

[notastrangeperson]

I know everyone turned down their volume when they clicked on this