Around 1.1 billion young people worldwide are facing the risk of irreversible hearing loss. This is not alarmist — "youth deafness" has already become a public health issue that cannot be ignored.

What you think of as hearing loss being a sign of aging— the culprit behind young people’s declining hearing—is hidden in the everyday habits we take for granted.

Headphones

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On the commute, late-night overtime, exercising and running... headphones have become a necessity for young people. But the problem is excessive volume and prolonged use. Environmental noise on subways and buses can reach 80–90 decibels; to hear clearly, many people turn headphone volume above 100 decibels — an intensity that, with just 15 minutes of continuous exposure, is sufficient to cause hearing damage.

Noisy environments

Bars, live houses, KTV, gyms — these venues popular with young people easily exceed 100 decibels, even reaching 120 decibels, comparable to the noise of an airplane taking off.

Staying up late

Unexpectedly, hearing health is closely related to the nervous system and vascular supply. Long-term late nights and excessive stress can cause vascular spasms in the ear and insufficient blood supply, thereby triggering sudden hearing loss.

Cleaning the ears

Using cotton swabs, ear picks, or other tools to clean the ears can easily push earwax deeper, forming an obstruction that leads to a sudden decline in hearing. Even more dangerous, a careless move may puncture the tympanic membrane, causing permanent damage.

The structures damaged are the hair cells; the damage is irreversible.

The auditory hair cells in the inner ear are responsible for converting sound vibrations into neural signals. These hair cells are non-regenerative.

When subjected to overly intense sound waves, they are like a trampled lawn—overbending, collapsing, and even breaking and dying.

Initially, you may experience only temporary hearing reduction, such as a feeling of fullness in the ear after leaving a noisy environment, which can recover. But if subjected to prolonged or repeated insults, the hair cells will die permanently. This process is silent and irreversible; by the time you notice hearing loss, a large number of hair cells have often already been lost.