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.