Summary
Audiologists in England are investigating whether prolonged use of noise-cancelling headphones contributes to auditory processing disorder (APD), a condition where the brain struggles to interpret sounds.
Young people like Sophie, 25, experience difficulties distinguishing speech from background noise despite normal hearing tests. NHS audiology departments report rising referrals for sound-processing issues.
Experts suggest excessive headphone use may hinder brain development in filtering noise, though research is limited.
Calls for further studies grow as APD diagnosis and treatment remain scarce, particularly in adults outside educational settings.
Sometimes I think my hearing is worsening, but then I realize it’s because the sound mix on almost every television and movie program is absolute dogshit. We shouldn’t need subtitles to understand high production entertainment.
WHY is all the dialogue at 12 decibels, while the effects and explosions are at 50?
That’s because a lot of streaming stuff is made for 5.1 surround, and they don’t care to provide the 2.0 (stereo) audio. Or sometimes it will have the 2.0 audio but you have to manually change it in your streaming app preference because they will let 5.1 as default. That makes it so that the sound of 5 speakers + 1 subwoofer now goes out of two speakers (or headphones). That’s why the dialogues are inaudible and the actions scenes are so loud.
So, every time this comes up, I have to point out that there’s more going on in your ear the hearing. I got too close to a speaker in a club about 10 years ago and messed up my hearing. I’m quite deaf in one ear and have tinnitus. That is a long way from the worst of it, though - I get unpredictable bouts off severe nausea and vertigo. That is, I will fall over and vomit with what is best described as severe sea sickness at short notice.
Take care of your ears, they are extremely delicate and include a balance organ that you definitely don’t want to fuck up.
I think I’d rather be deaf than go without my noise cancelling headphones, signed: your local autistic
Oh you’re fine. Neurodivergent people often already have apd
Not exactly a new thing, but as someone with tinnitus from too many concerts…take care of your ears, kids.
What? … Oh yeah I think I have that issue sometimes too.
Agreed. Hearing seems fine but what people say gets drowned out.
I am middle aged but I never was able to understand people talking at clubs. Couldn’t separate voice from background noise/music
They’ve been saying this since headphones became a thing. There’s no news here.
No, what they’ve been saying for the longest time is ANC headphones help reduce the risk of damage because you don’t need to turn up the volume too much to compensate for background noise. What this article is saying is that there might be something else going on with ANC technology that can mess up other stuff as well.
For hearing damage sure, but I’ve never seen anyone look at how noises canceling headphones would be a detriment to overall audio processing.
