Parents are used to those little white buds hanging from children’s ears. Many kids have their iPods on them at all times. Any dull moment can be spiced up with their favorite tunes. And they tend to crank up the volume.

Having access to eardrum pounding audio at any moment isn’t good. Human ears are surprisingly fragile. They may not seem that way. But hearing loss is slow and subtle. The effects of today’s rocking out won’t be felt for years. But it will be felt eventually.

Do you know exactly what constitutes “too loud?” Probably not. So, let’s start by comparing a range of everyday sounds:

Jet engine – 140 dB
Rock concert – 120 dB
Chainsaw – 110 dB
Motorcycle – 100 dB
Lawnmower – 90 dB
Alarm clock – 80 dB
Normal conversation – 60 dB
Whisper – 30 dB 

Regular, prolonged exposure to anything above 85 dB can cause hearing loss. Now, prolonged exposure means different things at different volumes. Here are some acceptable exposure times as defined by OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration): 

90 dB – 8 hours
100 dB – 2 hours
115 dB – 15 minutes or less

So, mowing the lawn for 30 minutes isn’t dangerous. But where do MP3 players fit in? They certainly can play music at safe levels. But the volume on most players can reach around 120 dB. That is extremely loud. Playing just a few songs at this volume exceeds safe exposure time.