More and more young people are wearing headphones or earbuds. However, a report from the BBC suggests noise-cancelling earphones could cause hearing problems. The BBC interviewed doctors at five UK hospitals. The doctors said many young people are having problems processing sounds. They can hear sounds, but they're not sure where they are coming from. Noise-cancelling earphones could be the reason why.
Dr Renee Almeida, an audiologist, said many young people are complaining about poor hearing. She said we need to hear many kinds of sounds, so we can focus on and decide which sounds are important. Dr Almeida said: "There is a difference between hearing and listening," and that "listening skills are suffering". Another audiologist said we can "forget" to hear important sounds, like cars beeping and spoken words.
Try the same news story at these levels:
Headphones - Level 0, Headphones - Level 2 or Headphones - Level 3
Sources- https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgkjvr7x5x6o
- https://nypost.com/2025/02/17/health/doctors-link-noise-canceling-headphones-to-rising-brain-condition/
- https://www.ndtv.com/feature/are-noise-cancelling-headphones-causing-hearing-issues-in-young-people-report-reveals-7736886
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