[Enjoy Science] How harmful is it to your body to wear headphones when sleeping?

Netizen question: I am a freshman this year and live in a room with 6 people. I am used to going to bed early and getting up early, but my roommates often stay up very late and make all kinds of noises.

For this reason, I always wear headphones when I go to bed and listen to soft music. But after a long time, I found that my ears would ache slightly when I woke up the next day, but it would be fine after a while.

Is this normal? Is it harmful to the body to wear headphones to sleep for a long time?

It is normal to fall asleep with headphones on and wake up the next day with a dull pain in your ears.

Because you slept, but your ears didn't get a good rest. They are also tired! They are protesting!

To be honest, wearing headphones before falling asleep is not a good habit.

If the earplugs are too tight or if the earphones press on the ear canal when sleeping on your side, it will cause ear pain. Not only that, it will also damage your hearing over time.

In fact, the most sophisticated structure in human evolution is the ear.

Not only does it allow people to hear sounds, but the special muscles in the ears can also regulate and buffer the sounds, making them smoother and friendlier.

For example, when encountering sharp high notes, this clever adjustment can effectively protect your hearing.

If you fall asleep with headphones on, the sound pressure that enters your ears directly from the headphones is high, and the muscles need to constantly adjust. Over time, the muscles are prone to fatigue, and the regulatory function decreases, which can easily cause damage to the inner ear.

Even soothing music at a moderate volume can be harmful to the ears. Over time, it will not only cause ear pain, but may also cause hearing loss.

Therefore, it is best to get rid of the habit of listening to music with headphones before going to bed.

It is recommended that you communicate with your roommate to see if you can make less noise; if that doesn’t work, you can use earplugs instead of headphones to block out the noise.

For those who live alone and simply want to listen to some soothing music to help them fall asleep, it is recommended to put down the headphones and play music directly in speaker mode.

In this way, it is equivalent to placing the sound in a sound field and then transmitting it to the ears, avoiding the direct impact of sound on the ears when using headphones.

At the same time, it also avoids ear discomfort caused by clogging and compressing the ear canal due to wearing headphones for a long time. It would be even better if you can choose a timed shut-off function.