Doctors called the hidden threat of sleeping in headphones

Continuous listening to music while sleeping can lead to permanent hearing loss and other impairments. Olga Chernova, an otorhinolaryngologist, and Ekaterina Demyanovskaya, a neurologist, told Izvestia about this on April 23.

"6-8 hours of continuous stimulation is actually a forced wear regime. The hair cells do not regenerate. Their death is irreversible. Each "musical night" is a small, inconspicuous, but irreplaceable step towards hearing loss," Chernova noted.

According to the otorhinolaryngologist, the danger is associated with the work of the hair cells of the inner ear, which are responsible for the perception of sound. During the day, they get time to recover due to pauses between sounds, while at night the load becomes continuous. Chernova emphasized that such cells do not regenerate, and their damage gradually accumulates, which leads to hearing loss.

She added that during sleep, headphones affect the body in several ways at once: they cause an acoustic load, create mechanical pressure on the ear canal and disrupt its ventilation. This increases the risk of inflammation and the development of otitis media.

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The expert clarified that in-ear headphones are the most dangerous, as they increase sound pressure and block air access. Overhead models are less traumatic, but when sleeping on your side they can also disrupt blood circulation.

In turn, Ekaterina Demyanovskaya, an expert at the Hemotest Laboratory, noted that prolonged exposure to sound affects not only the inner ear, but also the auditory ossicles.

"If you fall asleep with headphones on, music will pour into your ears for many hours without a break. Over time, otosclerosis can develop from such a constant load — the auditory ossicles become less mobile, and the hair cells become depleted, damaged and die, and it is impossible to restore them," she explained.

Demyanovskaya emphasized that even moderate volume can be harmful with prolonged exposure, and with high volume, the risk of damage increases after 10-15 minutes. She added that the first symptoms may be tinnitus, a feeling of stuffiness and difficulty with speech perception in a noisy environment.

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"Normally, hearing persists throughout life, in practice, age—related hearing loss is reported after 50-55 years, and noticeable problems after 60. For those who regularly sleep with headphones on, the first permanent changes may appear by the age of 30-35," she said.

To preserve your hearing, you should give up the habit of falling asleep to music, movies and podcasts, Demyanovskaya noted.

"Quality sleep is important for proper rest and health maintenance. And it's best to sleep in complete silence. It's also important to follow simple rules during the day.: Don't listen to music too loudly and take breaks more often. And it would be good to go without headphones at least 2-3 days a week in order to relieve the hearing organ," the doctor concluded.

Neurologist Ekaterina Demyanovskaya told Izvestia on March 3 that hearing loss may be associated not only with ear diseases, but also with damage to the central nervous system. According to the specialist, one of the most common neurological causes of hearing impairment is the neurinoma of the auditory nerve, which is also called vestibular schwannoma.

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