BBC: More Young Britons Visiting Hospitals for Hearing Issues
"If the Brain Forgets How to Filter Noise, Judgment Declines"
A claim has emerged that the 'noise canceling' feature, which blocks external noise, can affect not only hearing impairments but also brain damage.
Recently, the UK’s BBC reported the story of Sophie, a 25-year-old woman who experienced hearing abnormalities after using noise canceling for extended periods. Sophie, who grew up in a quiet rural village in the UK, experienced a significant decline in hearing after enrolling in a university in London a few years ago, to the point where it interfered with her daily life.
In particular, she found it difficult to locate the direction of sounds and struggled to attend lectures in classrooms, having to rely on online classes with subtitles turned on. Sophie said, "I tried to listen to the lectures, but all the words sounded like gibberish."
Sophie soon visited a hospital. The examination revealed no problems with her hearing, but she was diagnosed with Auditory Processing Disorder (APD), a condition where the brain has difficulty processing sounds and speech. APD means that the ears detect sounds normally, but the brain cannot process the auditory information. It is mainly known to occur in people with neurodevelopmental disorders, such as those who have suffered brain damage or had otitis media during childhood.
The cause of Sophie’s diagnosis remains unknown, but audiologists focused on the fact that she used headphones with noise canceling features for nearly five hours a day. The BBC reported, "Recently, the number of young people seeking specialists for hearing problems has increased," adding, "Their hearing is normal, but the ability to process sounds is impaired."
The noise canceling feature is useful for blocking ambient noise while listening to music, allowing clear sound without increasing volume, and is known to help protect hearing.
However, concerns about the risks of noise canceling have recently been raised. Claire Benton, vice president of the British Audiological Society, told the BBC that it can cause the brain to forget how to filter out noise, leading to impaired judgment. She said, "Noise canceling creates a 'false' environment where the brain does not need to make an effort to filter noise because it only hears what it wants to hear."
She continued, "The brain’s complex and advanced 'listening ability' is fully developed only by the late teens. If teenagers use noise canceling earphones or headphones and remain in this false environment until their late teens, the development of their ability to process speech and noise may be delayed."
Audiologist Dr. Angela Alexander said, "It is natural that anxiety increases if the brain cannot detect threats through hearing," adding, "It is advisable to reduce earphone usage time and use the 'ambient sound allowance' mode that lets you hear surrounding noises when using earphones. Wearing earphones or headphones that do not completely block the ears is also a good method."
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