Can Your Eardrum Burst From Loud Music?

let's be honest we've all heard the same spiel from our parents turn down that music herp derp but you'll go deaf and you probably respond with the classic yeah yeah whatever mom yeah what if we told you that your mom is right yes as horrifying as the thought maybe it's true in fact not only can listening to loud music cause you to lose hearing over time a loud enough sound could rupture your eardrum right now in this video you'll find out how bad going out to a nightclub can be for your ears what kind of sounds are capable of bursting your eardrum instantly and how you can tell if your eardrum is ruptured and more you're listening alrighty then let's get to it at its core sound is just energy that travels in waves we use the decibel scale to measure the amount of energy within a particular sound since they're a measure of energy the decibel scale doesn't measure loudness so much as it does intensity also the scale is logarithmic so a 100 decibel noise isn't ten times as intense as a ten decibel noise it's actually a billion times more powerful so a whisper for example clocks in at 30 decibels whereas a normal conversation is double that 60 decibels experiencing a noise that's over 70 like that of a jackhammer or motorbike for an extended period of time can potentially damage your hearing for the long term a noise at 150 decibels or higher say bye-bye to your eardrums altogether fortunately it's difficult to stumble across something that is capable of generating a noise of that magnitude for the average person the loudest noise you'll typically encounter in your day-to-day life is a lawnmower and a chainsaw and stuff like that those only go up to 120 decibels to get to 150 decibels means you're doing something highly unusual like standing next to a jet engine during takeoff we're setting off firecrackers next to your ear well doing something menial like listening to loud music isn't liable to explode your eardrums on the spot it can be incredibly bad for your hearing you know that classic trope about nightclubs how the music is so loud you can't even talk to the person right beside you well the average nightclub plays music at around 100 decibels a level at which hearing loss can occur after just 15 minutes and if you think listening to music at home is safer well it's not the devices you use to listen to music like your phone computer or tablet can likely go even higher if you're someone who's always jamming out to music full blast in your headphones chances are it's playing at up to 110 decibels which means hearing loss is possible within as little as 5 minutes which is pretty bad news considering most forms of hearing loss aren't reversible but say you make the unfortunate mistake of standing next to a space shuttle during takeoff in your eardrum completely ruptures what can you expect well your typical symptoms are about as bad as you can imagine a severe earache loss of hearing mucus draining out of your ears or all other indicators that something is gone horribly wrong inside of your ear canal if any of these things are followed up by a buzzing or ringing sound dizziness nausea or a loss of balance you may want to go see a doctor like yesterday and easy but not foolproof way to check if your eardrum is ruptured is to plug your nose and slightly exhale through it if your eardrums are fine you should feel some pressure in your ear canal if your eardrum is ruptured however you might hear a slight whistling noise as the wind passes through the new hole yes luckily for us unlike general hearing loss a ruptured eardrum can heal itself sure it'll take around 1 to 3 months and you'll be afraid to do things like sneeze or yawn in the meantime but take care of it and it should end up making a full recovery you'll need to be careful though since a ruptured dramas more prone to things like infections speaking of lovely infections loud noises aren't the only way people often burst their eardrums if you're someone who suffers from severe or repeat ear infections you need to keep an eye or rather an ear out - the resulting buildup of fluid behind your eardrum can lead to increase in pressure which can eventually cause your eardrum to tear out in fact anything that messes with the pressure levels in your head can cause your eardrum to burst changes an air or water pressure from flying and scuba diving respectively have been known to lead to eardrum ruptures in the past oh and as for the most unsurprising cause of burst eardrums yeah you guessed it people sticking things in their ears that's right from pencils to q-tips to bobby pins people seem to just love sticking things in their ear canal that do not belong there although in their defense few things in life feel better than scraping at a bunch of earwax with a q-tip sign me up up until now we've spent a lot of time telling you about the negatives of bursting your eardrum but what if I were to tell you there are some people who rupture their own eardrums due to the benefits that's right the Bajau people an ethnic subset of the Malay people who live largely at sea aren't having divers unfortunately that pesky underwater diving pressure I mentioned earlier can really make it difficult to go too deep without specialized equipment to combat this some bozo purposefully ruptured their own eardrums at an early age in order to avoid pressure buildup in their heads thereby making diving easier naturally the Bajau who commit to this trend have hearing problems when they get older but hey it's all worth it for that fresh seafood right know maybe ultimately it takes a lot of noise or an unusual set of circumstances to rupture an eardrum but it's far from impossible fortunately even if it does happen you'll be able to make a relatively quick recovery the real danger lies in the gradual hearing loss that comes from blasting your iPod while working out so do us a favor listen to your mom and turn that thing down if you enjoyed this video be sure to LIKE and subscribe below then head over to the Brainiac YouTube channel for more eerie videos [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Brainiac

Views: 83,778

Rating: 4.8997169 out of 5

Keywords: Eardrum, Rupture, Burst, Hearing Loss, Deafness, Q-Tip, Decibels, Bajau, Malay, Diving, Pressure, Brainiac, loud music, hearing, facts about the body, things you didn't know, interesting, fact, body, science, cartoon, animation, animated, animated facts, what if, infographics

Id: TmGA44ARGIY

Length: 6min 12sec (372 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 14 2020