MP3 or no MP3 - that is the question...

Last night’s Tai Chi lesson was great, and I slept much better without the need to have my radio on.

On a completely different subject, writing this blog has really got me thinking about me listening to my ipod and the effect that might have on my tinnitus.

Much has been said about MP3 players and the damage their use can have on your hearing if not used with care but I still see evidence every day that people either aren’t aware of this, or just choose to ignore the advice given.

I love listening to my ipod, but I really do my best to limit how much I use it. I wasn’t listening to it this morning on my way to work, and noticed how loud someone’s music was on the tube. They were sitting three seats away from me and I could still make out clearly what music they were listening to, and even found myself singing along in my head! And that was over the general noise of the tube, which is so worrying. I often feel like tapping people on the shoulder and telling them to turn their players down, but I suspect my interference wouldn’t be welcome by most.

Now, whilst I know listening to my ipod at a high volume or for a long duration would be no good for my hearing in the long run, and in the short term would only serve to make my tinnitus worse, I do find sometimes that listening to one can be helpful when my tinnitus is too distracting. I find them quite anti-social though, so wouldn’t use it around friends or in the office, so I have to use other tactics in those situations.

I try to have my ipod on as low a volume as possible, which is made much easier by the fact I have a volume control on the wire of my earphones. My earphones are also noise-reducing so I don’t have to turn the volume up so much when there’s background noise. Small things like this mean I can still enjoy listening to my music whilst minimising the risk of making my tinnitus worse.

Part of me thinks I shouldn’t really use an MP3 player at all, but I am stubborn and don’t want having tinnitus to mean that I stop doing something I love – listening to music. I believe being sensible is the key and I honestly don’t think my tinnitus has been made worse by using one. As I mentioned, using my ipod can be a positive thing when I’m finding my tinnitus particularly bad, it’s just important to remember not to turn it up too high when my tinnitus is very loud!