red rock \07.24\

red rock \07.24\

Posted by Lauren at 9:58 PM ✪ No comment yet

Just over a week ago, I decided to give my eardrums a break.  My comfortable earbuds crapped out a couple months ago, so I downgraded to the spare set that you always keep but would rather never have to use.  Besides the general discomfort, I actually started experiencing some inner ear pain and ringing on the left side.  That's when I realized just how much I was filling in hours of solitude with my iPod's company.

I imagine that I've been wearing headphones of some variety since the early nineties, and my parents have been admonishing me about going deaf over that same span.  And I only use a moderate volume on my personal music devices.

A little digging turns up a 60/60 rule - keeping your earbud time to 60 minutes a day at no higher than 60% max volume.  I guarantee I was breaking at least half of that rule nearly every day.  But, I'm rather averse to permanent hearing damage.  Supposedly the first thing to go is the middle ranges, those required to hear conversations in noisy restaurants.  There's nothing but noisy restaurants in Chicago and who wants to be that girl on a date?  "Huh? What?"