Healthy headphone types - this is what you should pay attention to

Headphones should be practical and sound good. But the health aspect is also not to be neglected when buying and using. In this practical tip, we will tell you what you should pay attention to and which headphones are associated with the lowest health risks.

What's the unhealthy thing about headphones?

Headphones are sound transducers that are in direct contact with the ear. This allows you to generate high sound pressure levels and close your ears. This poses three health risks in particular:

1. The most unhealthy are high sound pressure levels on the eardrum, especially with continuous exposure. The processing of sound stimuli in the inner ear requires large amounts of oxygen, potassium, calcium and magnesium, with which the ear is supplied via the bloodstream. With continuous stress, the blood supply is not sufficient to supply the hair cells in the inner ear with the necessary nutrients. They temporarily go limp or die completely. The consequences can range from tinnitus, hearing loss, to deafness. In addition, free radicals are formed with increased sound processing effort by the cells, which in rare extreme cases can contribute to the development of tumors.
2. Acoustic shielding from the outside world is a health risk that should not be underestimated. Many dangers, such as cars driving from behind, are only perceived by the sense of hearing. Warning signals such as a fire alarm are also purely acoustic in many cases.
3. The ear has an effective system to protect against parasitic small animals and bacteria: ear wax has an unfavorable pH value for germs and is continuously newly produced and discharged to the outside. If this flow is interrupted, ears can become clogged and catch fire.

Shell headphones - healthy in all areas

The classic among headphones are the conch headphones. To date, they are used most frequently in the professional field:

• Shell headphones are larger than the auricles and lie against the ears from the outside.
• An adjustable strap holds them by the ears and lets them adapt to all head sizes.
• Shell headphones usually have larger diaphragms than other types, which ensures a higher input resistance. This reduces the effective sound power, particularly with portable audio players.
• When the earphones are closed, the ear is enclosed relatively airtight. A large part of the sound energy reaches the inner ear. Outside noise is shielded.
• Part of the sound energy is released to the outside, as open shell headphones are air-permeable to the ear. So the hearing is never affected by the overall performance of the audio device. External noise such as traffic noise and warning signals can penetrate to the inner ear.
• In a practical tip compare how the two types of shell headphones on-ear and over-ear.

Earbud Headphones

The small, practical earbud headphones were particularly popular in the nineties:

• Earbud headphones are pushed in front of the entrance of the auditory canal.
• They often have a foam cover to increase comfort.
• Earbud headphones only seal the ear moderately, which means that some of the sound power escapes to the outside and, in turn, outside noise can penetrate into the ear.

In ear headphones

Inear headphones experienced a real boom with the new generation of portable music players at the end of the nineties.

• Inear headphones are inserted into the ear canal.
• As a rule, they are made of soft silicone to increase comfort.
• The sound energy from Inear headphones radiates almost exclusively into the inside of the ears.
• Inear headphones seal the ear from the outside world. In order to dampen outside noise particularly effectively, some Inear headphones also have a foam cover.

Which type of headphones is healthy?

From this information it can already be determined which headphone type is the healthiest:

1. The recommendation: Open-shell headphones are the only ones in which some of the sound pressure escapes to the outside without the flow of ear wax being inhibited. This type of headphones is clearly recommended from a health perspective.
2. The compromise: earbud headphones close the ear canals, but do not seal so strongly that the entire sound pressure shines on the eardrum or external noise is shielded. Due to its small size, this type of headphone is very practical for on the go, but not ideal from a health perspective.
3. Not recommended: Inear headphones block the ear, so that the majority of the sound energy acts on the eardrum and external noise is shielded. They are significantly deeper in the ear canal than earbud headphones and inhibit the wax flow even more. This type of headphones is very unhealthy, especially in continuous use, and is therefore not recommended.

Of course, if you use headphones responsibly, none of the types is harmful. Pay attention to a low volume yourself, do not clog your ears for too long and do not try to drown out noise through loud music. Your hearing will thank you. In further CHIP online practical tips, we will show you how to solder defective headphones and what you can do if the headphone jack is loose.