'Words sound like gibberish'
What? This article is confusing as hell.
I use mine a lot, but I don't have problems telling where sounds are coming from or understanding what is being said.
Tbh this just sounds like ADHD or something.
this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2025
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So this could be boiled down to "use or lose it". Idk, maybe this might be part of it. Maybe a part of the prevalence of short form media blah blah attention span.
I am glad to see us respect our link-aggregation heritage of ignoring the article and starting heated discussions based on what we infer from the headline. 😂
It also seems that the headline currently on the article is different and switches out clickbait tactics from misleading omission to absurd pearl-clutching: "Are noise-cancelling headphones to blame for young people's hearing problems?" If you combine them, you get something closer to actual content of the article.
It also seems that the headline currently on the article is different and switches out
Both are present in the article; they don't switch out. One is the title (as you can see in the title bar of a desktop web browser) and the other is the top-level heading of the text.
Looks like Lemmy picked up the former, which makes sense considering the document structure. BBC probably should have used the same phrase in both places.
I poked around a few other articles. A few are identical. Most are slight variations. Few are as different as these two. My guess would be that the original submission from the author or initial editor locks in a headline for the tab/title bar, but then the CMS lets them edit what appears in the main body of the webpage.
Bad title. The article examines whether specifically noise-cancelling headphones may be involved in listening issues.
Oh boy I hope not, I love noise cancelation lol. I figure it's gotta be better than upping the volume to override the noise around me.
Did the boomboxes-next-to-heads and the walkmans of the '80s and discmans of the '90s not count? I think a lot of game boy users also used headhpones.
I actually didn't use them that much at all, but I still have trouble hearing with background noise. Noise-cancelling headphones have actually been an amazing thing in my life because (a) it helps overstimulation and anxiety and (b) it actually helps me hear someone talking to me because it filters out the other stuff. I suspect my problems are a combination of mostly-neurological (ADHD and probably (though not officially) ASD) and maybe impacted by loud concerts and general aging-related stuff. I can still hear really high-pitched sounds and the like whereas many of my peers around my age and younger can't as well, but it's all mud to me when there's a lot of sound.
this isn't a hearing loss issue, the hypothesis is that noise-cancelling headphones specifically are causing our brains to not filter out random noises neurologically.
True. They also mention the person's rural upbringing and then moving to the city. That mirrors my experience and my hearing issues pre-date using noise canceling headphones. I always had a rough time anywhere there were lots of people and noise, but it just wasn't super common previously (I grew up in rural Ohio and have lived in some big US cities.followed by nearly a decade in Tokyo).
I have ADHD and sometimes can't focus to do more brain intensive work if I'm in a room with a bunch of people talking. Street/background noise doesn't bother me at all. I grew up suburb rural adjacent but I've worked in huge cities for long periods and it just doesn't bother me like six people having two conversations would.
The woman in the article is also just a single example. They mention that this condition is on the rise in general.
I knew earphones made you lose your hearing faster but headphones causing issues too? Guess the only safe option are speakers :/
Next DIY project found!
WHAT?
OKAAAY
I actually got this and now I feel terribly old. Thanks...
HUH?
The cause of Sophie's APD diagnosis is unknown, but her audiologist believes the overuse of noise-cancelling headphones, which Sophie wears for up to five hours a day, could have a part to play.
Other audiologists agree, saying more research is needed into the potential effects of their prolonged use.
That looks to me like, "audiologists have no bloody clue where this issue is coming from, and are therefore throwing shit at the wall in the hope that something will stick."
I really struggle to process voices, but I hear absolutely everything.
Someone talking to me can get completely drowned out by a 15KHz hum of an electronic device, the acoustics of a room or a TV in the background.
Yet, I ask them if they are having trouble hearing me over all the noise. They usually reply "wharlt noise?" If it's a high-pitch hum, they won't acknowledge the noise even if I show them on a spectral analyser.
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that's how science works until you can actually test the hypotheses.
If a hypothesis is untestable, then it is a guess, and not scientific.
it's not untestable, they just haven't actually done it yet. In fact they say in the article research is needed.
Studying sure. But this is openly speculating to the uninformed masses. Can earphones cause cancer? Unless you can prove they don't, that is a hypothesis that could be tested. But more importantly, it's slop for clickbait bullshit so your aunt can post that to Facebook and feel superior to all the dregs giving themselves cancer by wearing earphones. It's useless.
According to this articles methods we know that noise cancelling headphones kill people, since everyone who uses them dies! (Eventually and yes /s)
eh, I don't see a problem with this article specifically, and I don't think your "cancer" hyperbole is helpful. If people feel like they are suffering from a similar listening/attention issue, there's no real harm in trying to go without noise-cancelling for a while to see if the symptoms improve.
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Exactly.
Is she wearing high heels every day? Could be bullshit, but could be related. 🙄
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I'm not buying it that it is headphone-related. I wear headphones nearly all of the time, I've listened to music loudly for years on end, I've had to deal with loud screeches, loud noise wherever I go, lived and worked.
It is totally an environmental thing. Plus, the article had already wrapped up what the problem was and a normal hearing test came back negative.
But they haaaaaad to find a reason in the next line. Just had to.
they're not saying it's a headphones thing in general. they're saying it may be a noise-cancelling headphones thing.
Have fun. I have Tinnitus.
From just headphone use? No, disagreed. From loud music? I used it as an example, I don't listen to loud music constantly as much anymore. You can't avoid Tinnitus because even if you didn't listen to loud music all of the time, being surrounded by loud noise in general will eventually get you there. I work in a store where people slam pallets down (for no stupid reason), screech pallet jacks, have noisy pallet jacks in general, ladder carts squeal and screech. We're not allowed to protect our ears because "CONSOOMER FIRST" priority.
Plus, where I live, people slam their doors around, they holler, babies and kids throwing fits. Yeah, it doesn't matter if I listen to loud music or not, I will develop Tinnitus because of the environments. It's an environment thing.
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I pretty much never go outside without headphones now. I haven't noticed any problems with comprehending speech or sounds like described here. Sensory issues (as in being easily overwhelmed) were long gone before I got addicted to headphones. However, mother complains I am constantly speaking too loud without even recognizing it, and blames it on my hearing loss. However, I KNOW my hearing is good, because I can still hear a subtle shrill sound of a power supply on the other end of the room, even loudly enough to be bothered by it! I wonder if this could be because of headphones, that just feels peculiar.
Yeah that could be, if the headphones make you sound quieter to yourself.
Personally I have the opposite problem, when I wear earplugs out at a loud venue, I can hear myself better and end up talking too quietly.
I mean this happens in conversations, after some time has passed since I've worn headphones.
The cause of Sophie's APD diagnosis is unknown, but her audiologist believes the overuse of noise-cancelling headphones, which Sophie wears for up to five hours a day, could have a part to play.
So fucking stupid...
Kid grew up on a quiet farm in the countryside, then she moved to London and probably 100+ student plus lectures.
It's not that noise cancelling headphones prevented her from developing normally, she developed in an environment like what we evolved to handle.
Then she got thrown into a cacophony of sound that is one of the planets largest/busiest cities...
And they act like she is the problem and not noise pollution?
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41370-024-00642-5
Noise pollution is fucking a lot of us up, and people who grew up with it are used to it, but that doesn't stop the negative consequences of it. Someone that never had to deal with it is obviously going to have what looks like a sudden onset of a condition, but the person is fine.
The environment is the problem.
She is just an example, they say this issue is on the rise in general.
Five NHS audiology departments have told the BBC that there has been an increase in the number of young people referred to them from GPs with hearing issues - only to find their hearing is normal when tested and it is their ability to process sound that is struggling.
APD is more common in neurodivergent people, those who have suffered from a brain injury or had a middle-ear infection as a child. However, more patients with APD are presenting outside of those categories, leaving audiologists to question if external factors, such as noise-cancelling headphones, are contributing.
My tolerance of noise and light pollution has gone way the hell down as I have gotten older. I want to live in the woods at this point.
I feel so lucky, living in the country side where the closest road is 300m away, and the closest neighbour 250m from the house. It gets completely quiet in the summertime due to all the trees surrounding the property. It's heaven on earth in the summer!
Yeah I keep trying to move to the woods but my wife wants to be around people for some reason lol
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Maybe try McDonald's workers for further research, if it's the constant and annoying beeping of machines. Or any Japanese store where you get 3 songs blaring at the same time from different aisles, then there's some offering on a seperate stand, of course also blinking and begging for attention with additional sounds... I believe you can simulate 10 years of UK longterm exposure with a one day trip to Japan.
I had a pair of noise cancelling headphones when I was in like seventh or eighth grade, but when they broke, I just never ended up replacing them, and I've never had noise cancelling headphones ever since.