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Watch movies, phone, listen to music...The headphones are omnipresent, a fortiori during the pandemic period when distant is privileged.An association alerts on risk on hearing and delivers its good practices.

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Do not turn a deaf ear in the face of the dangers of hands-free kits and other earrings!On March 11, 2021, on the occasion of the 24th edition of the National Hearing Day, the JNA association initiated the first "day without earphones"."If the main cause of the deafness and tinnitus remains age, the causes linked to our societal behavior is progressing quickly," she worries.Contrary to collective beliefs, headphones are not the prerogative of young people.Because all generations are concerned, JNA alerts on these societal behavior and their risks for hearing.

Omnipresent headphones...

According to the Ifop-Jna survey "What future for the ear of the French?»Published in March 2020, 88 % of young people aged 15 to 17 use headphones and eight out of ten users are under the age of 35.But this also concerns 53 % of 35-49 year olds and 36 % of 50-64 year olds.Almost one in five people use this equipment for more than two hours a day and 38 % from one to two hours.If three -quarters of the respondents listen to moderate volume, 25 % are used to pushing decibels.Some even keep them at bedtime and at their workplace.A trend that increases during the pandemic period, where distancing is privileged...

...And the pandemic does not help

The latest survey carried out in October 2020 "Understanding speech at work, a challenge?»Reveals, in fact, that more than three in five active in teleworking used a helmet or headphones, and 20 % more than two hours per day.The next survey carried out on the occasion of the campaign of March 11, 2021 will more precisely look at this issue."Where the question of hearing health could still be approached after 60 years, it becomes urgent to consider hearing as a biomarker to systematically follow in the health monitoring of French of all ages", urges the association whichclaims "a deterministic approach to the public authorities".In the meantime, she delivers her advice to protect her listening...

3 questions to the JNA association

Question: can the ears bear these modes of consumption of sound? JNA: the mechanisms of the ear have not evolved since the creation of humanity.They did not transfer to adapt or protect themselves naturally to the powers of sound emissions created by man.The ears are not endowed with valves or closing membranes, unlike the eyes.Our ears are alert radars that work permanently, where the eyes close.Also the mechanisms of the ear are fragile and weakened by the omnipresence of solicitation.At the slightest embarrassment of speech understanding, the brain is put in difficulty to easily decode the information that reaches it.The domino effect of hearing is switched on: loss of concentration, fatigue, stress, nervousness...And even if the music is pleasant and less stressful than a noise suffered, it is an amount of energy that solicits the cells of the ear, adding to all the requests that generate acoustic stress.The ear needs time to recover, to breathe.Q: Should we stop using headphones? JNA: It is not the sound that is to be rejected, nor the use of headphones to ban, but it is above all our methods of sound consumption that are harmful to the'ear.Risk factors are now omnipresent: intensity and duration and very often power and duration at the same time.These practices question at every moment the capacity of the ear to survive this acoustic pressure.The increase in declarations of discomfort and hearing disorders such as tinnitus (whistles and buzzing in the ears) can only worry.The headphones grafted all the time appeal to the cells of the ear and create acoustic stress sometimes without discontinuity.However, it is possible to "consume" otherwise and more "safe".Q: How? JNA: Some good practices:- Vary the listening mode of sound: earpiece or helmet, nomad speakers, directly out of the computer in natural listening mode;- moderate the volume and duration of the'Listen;- Offer recovery times in the ear: after a videoconferencing, during the day, simply let the ears breathe in the open air and in a natural, calm noise atmosphere and enjoy the sleep time forOffer a large recovery range;- Reduce the collective hubbub of our behavior together: we are all noise producers.This can avoid causing the use of headphones to flee the surrounding noise suffered.

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