Apple Hearing Study Finds Way Too Many People Exposed to Unsafe Sound Levels

New insights from Apple's ongoing hearing health study reveal one in 10 participants exposed to higher than the WHO-recommended weekly headphone audio levels.

We’re Not Taking Care of Our Hearing Well

"While catchy tunes can be tempting, listeners should consider listening to music and other media at the lowest enjoyable volume," reads the study shared on the Apple website.

On average, one-quarter of participants were exposed daily to unsafe levels of environmental sounds such as traffic, machinery, and public transportation. Apple also said that almost half the study participants work, or have previously worked, in a loud workplace.

"As noise exposure has shown an impact on hearing, it’s important to be aware of surroundings," Apple says. Should those trends continue, Apple notes, WHO estimates that 700 million people around the world will suffer from profound hearing loss by 2050.

Apple shared these key hearing health insights ahead of World Hearing Day on March 3.

Other Hearing Health Tidbits

Other crucial findings you should know about include the following tidbits:

10 percent of participants have been diagnosed with hearing loss by a professional.
Of these, 75 percent do not use hearing aids or cochlear implants.
20 percent of participants have hearing loss when compared to WHO standards.
10 percent have hearing loss that is consistent with noise exposure.

The most damning tidbit: Almost half the participants haven’t had their hearing tested by a professional in at least 10 years. "And 25 percent of participants experience ringing in their ears a few times a week or more, which could be a sign of hearing damage," Apple says.

Using Apple Products To Protect Hearing

The study goes on to mention a few hearing and accessibility features built into Apple products that help customers maintain their long-term hearing health.

These include the AirPods Pro's Transparency mode for letting outside sound in, Live Listen that turns the iPhone into a directional microphone, the Noise app, Headphone Accommodations for customizing headphone audio levels to your preferences, and so forth.

About Apple Heart Study

Realized in a partnership between Apple and the University of Michigan School of Public Health, the study has been available through Apple's Research app since November 2019. The study data is being shared with the WHO’s Make Listening Safe initiative.

Thousands of Apple customers across the United States have volunteered to participate in this study. Participants didn't have to do anything special---the Apple Hearing Study collected data from their iPhone and onboard health sensors in the Apple Watch.

The Apple Watch SE and Apple Watch Series 4 and later are capable of measuring the ambient sound levels in the user's environment using the microphone and duration of exposure. When the device picks up elevated decibels at levels where hearing could be affected, you get a wrist notification. To protect your privacy, the watch doesn’t record or save any sounds to measure your daily average environmental sound exposure.