PHEOCS Investigation › cms_files › resources › NolanJacobearbudtest.pdfSkrillex Motorola Xoom Halfway 180 70.59 Headphones 2XL Cinema by Skrillex Motorola Xoom Halfway 180 68.23

Hearing Loss

PHEOCS Investigation

By: Nolan and Jacob

What we are doing

• We are investigating hearing loss. The way of hearing loss that we are investigating is from headphones or earphones. Today its how a lot of people are losing hearing from.

PHEOCS Background Information

PHEOCS Background Information- Contacting live

experts

What we also learned • The db level for the halfway volume is about 85

db, you would have to listen to that music that loud for 8 hours for hearing loss. Hearing loss can maybe get people hurt like you might be walking across the street and might not hear a car coming, they might not hear the fire alarm, they might not hear a lot of things. If you listen to a 115 db level for 30 seconds you will start to lose hearing. A 165 db would be a 12 gauge gun about one shot would cause hearing loss (Without the sound blockers in your ears).


We asked a live expert

• How does hearing loss happen? Hearing is a process that involves many systems in order to transfer sound waves from outside the ear into bio-electrical impulses that can be perceived by the brain. Hearing loss can be caused by injury, illness or birth defect that causes a problem with one or all of the following parts.


We asked a live expert II • 1. Sound outside our ear makes our eardrum

vibrate. Or ear drum is connected to 3 tiny bones inside our ear that transfer sound waves into mechanical energy (think of the foot pedal on a bass drum working in reverse). If you were to stick a pencil in your ear and cause a hole in the drum or if you have an ear infection that causes the bones to be submerged in ear boogers, that would cause an 'outer ear' hearing loss.


We asked a live expert III

• 2. The most common hearing loss comes from problems with the next part of the process. The bones attached to the drum push fluid in and out of a hearing mechanism located just behind our ear called the cochlea (coke-lee-a). This looks a bit like a snail shell or a wound up garden hose. continued


We asked a live expert IV

• (continued) On the inside of of the cochlea there are tiny hair cells that act like light switches sending on electrical impulses to the brain if the cells particular frequency is activated. Frequency is the pitch or tone of the sound. The higher frequency hair cells are located on the outer edge of the cochlea while the lower frequencies are located on the inside of the coil.


We asked a live expert V

• (continued) Because higher frequency hair cells are closer to the outer edge of the cochlea, they are more likely to be impacted by intense sound waves. When intense sounds hit these hair cells, they can be bent or damaged much like a tree branch and will no longer send impulses up to the brain. That frequency or pitch is no longer as easily perceived by the brain.


We asked a live expert VI

• 2. What decibel level causes hearing loss It is not only decibel level that causes hearing loss, but also length of exposure to that decibel level. There is some research coming out that cellphone use of 60 minutes per day or more has been found to cause high frequency hearing loss. The louder the sound, the less time it takes to cause permanent damage.


We asked a live expert VII

• 3. Do you have any suggestions for kids listening to music with earphones. One thing I haven't talked about yet is something called the Signal to Noise Ratio. This is the difference between the signal of the sound you are trying to hear compared to the other noises around you. (continued)


We asked a live expert VIII

• continued) If you are listening to music using super expensive 'Bose' noise canceling headphones in a quiet room, you have to put the music at a lower decibel level to achieve the same loudness than you would if you were wearing cheap ear buds while mowing the lawn. If I have one suggestion for kids, it would be to never, ever try to listen to music while mowing the lawn, running a chain saw, vacuuming or even in the back of a noisy school bus.


We asked a live expert IX

• 4. Which is louder: Headphones or Earphones. Depends on the quality of the headphones. Like I said above, headphones that are able to block out the background noise would allow you to perceive a louder sound without having to turn up the volume. Ear buds go directly into the ear canal. If they can block out the background noise better than the cheap headphones that don't cover the ear, they would be the better bet.

PHEOCS Hypothesis

Dangerous Decibels

• Normal conversation at 3': 60-65dB Telephone dial tone: 80dB Subway train at 200': 95dB Level at which sustained exposure may result in hearing loss: 90 - 95dB Snowmobile, Motorcycle: 100dB Pain begins: 90 - 95dB 12 Gauge Shotgun Blast: 165dB Death of hearing tissue: 180dB

PHEOCS Hypothesis

Dangerous Decibels II

• Headphones and Earphones can reach up to dB levels of 110 dB Nerve cells that carry electrical signals from the ears to the brain have a coating called the myelin sheath, which helps the electrical signals travel along the cell. dB 110 or over can strip the cells of its coating, disrupting the electrical signals.

PHEOCS Hypothesis

Dangerous Decibels III

• There are signs of hearing loss: 1. temporary deafness 2. tinnitus (ringing in the ears) 3. hurting ear

PHEOCS Designing experiment

Hypothesis, Procedure, and Materials List and Instructions

• PHEOCS Hypothesis

• You will need: sound sensor, Headphones, Earphones, Music player (iPod), and a LabQuest for the sound sensor. 1. Plug the headphones or earphones into the music player (iPod).



• 2. Play the music with the sound sensor DIRECTLY next to the Headphone or Earphone speaker MAKE SURE THE SOUND SENSOR IS PLUGGED INTO THE LABQUEST. 3. Press the play on the LabQuest with the music on and the sound sensor will start recording the data.



• 4. Save the data on a flash drive and plug the flash drive into a laptop or desktop. 5. View the data and find out which dB level for headphones or earphones is louder. 6. (If you don’t know how to use a LabQuest) Once you plug the sound sensor into the LabQuest you press the power button.



• 7. Then to graph the data while recording it press the graph button (looks like a graph) and press the play button for the Headphones to (LabQuests can be touchscreen and might not be touch screen). 8. It will then record the data then run another test for the Earphones start a new run and record the Earphone data.



• Hypothesis – I predict earphones are louder than headphones because the earphones are farther into your ear. Conclusion: earphones might be or are louder than headphones. (It was strangely a little too loud for the earphones when we tested it). I listen to music normally halfway.


Data Table Brand Name

Song Listening Device

Volume Level

Length of song played (secs)

dB Level Average

Ear buds

Sony Cinema by Skrillex

Motorola Xoom

Halfway 180 70.59

Headphones

2XL Cinema by Skrillex

Motorola Xoom

Halfway 180 68.23

Ear buds Sony Cinema by Skrillex

iPad Halfway 180 66.92

Headphones 2XL Cinema by Skrillex

iPad Halfway 180 63.04




Experiment 1 – iPad


Experiment 2 – Motorola Xoom

PHEOCS Conclusions

Conclusion

• We did two tests with headphones and ear buds. In both controlled tests ear buds were louder than headphones.

• Ear buds make louder sounds(greater decibel levels) than headphones.

PHEOCS Share

Application

Based on our experiment we would recommend people knowing that ear buds make a louder sound in your ear than headphones.

Listening to music at high levels can cause hearing damage overtime.

PHEOCS Cite resources

Sites that were used

• http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/loudness.html

• http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120829064707.htm

• http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121127190033.htm

http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/loudness.html




http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120829064707.htm




Documents

PHEOCS Investigation › cms_files › resources › NolanJacobearbudtest.pdfSkrillex Motorola Xoom Halfway 180 70.59 Headphones 2XL Cinema by Skrillex Motorola Xoom Halfway 180 68.23