This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
The cause of Sophie's APD diagnosis is unknown, but her audiologist believes the overuse of noise-cancelling headphones, which Sophie wears for up to five hours a day, could have a part to play.
Other audiologists agree, saying more research is needed into the potential effects of their prolonged use.
That looks to me like, "audiologists have no bloody clue where this issue is coming from, and are therefore throwing shit at the wall in the hope that something will stick."
Exactly.
Is she wearing high heels every day? Could be bullshit, but could be related. π
that's how science works until you can actually test the hypotheses.
Studying sure. But this is openly speculating to the uninformed masses. Can earphones cause cancer? Unless you can prove they don't, that is a hypothesis that could be tested. But more importantly, it's slop for clickbait bullshit so your aunt can post that to Facebook and feel superior to all the dregs giving themselves cancer by wearing earphones. It's useless.
According to this articles methods we know that noise cancelling headphones kill people, since everyone who uses them dies! (Eventually and yes /s)
I really struggle to process voices, but I hear absolutely everything.
Someone talking to me can get completely drowned out by a 15KHz hum of an electronic device, the acoustics of a room or a TV in the background.
Yet, I ask them if they are having trouble hearing me over all the noise. They usually reply "wharlt noise?" If it's a high-pitch hum, they won't acknowledge the noise even if I show them on a spectral analyser.
If it's a high-pitched hum, they may genuinely be unable to hear it. It's common for people to lose their hearing in very high registers quickly as they age (like, most teens still hear them, but thirty-somethings mostly don't). Without noticing, since it doesn't impede day-to-day communication.
Nope it's a very reasonable hypothesis. "Symptom X suddenly occurs frequently. That started when people started doing Y. According to our understanding, Y has a direct impact on the functioning of X". Causation has still to be established formally but it'd be quite surprising if it was mere correlation, as in it would overturn the understanding audiologists have about how things work.
Bluntly said: If you never train filtering out noise, then you suck at filtering out noise. That looks dead obvious, if it's wrong, then in a very, very interesting way. General relativity vs. Newtonian mechanics kind of interesting.
Article literally starts off just describing my ADHD related auditory processing difficulties, which is interesting for their claims because I don't often listen to music in the first place because of it.
The only thing I use my headphones for are podcasts and audio books that I have rewind because I forgot I was listening to something.
My knee jerk response as a result is that it's probably just younger people being more comfortable admitting something is wrong and looking for an explanation from the wrong people. They note that it is prevalent in aneurotypical people but don't seem to have questioned that maybe these people simply aren't diagnosed properly.
It's especially interesting that they chose a woman as the focus for the article, with women being demonstrably underdiagnosed in particular.
Yeah those first couple paragraphs were just βADHD/autistic woman behaves like an ADHD/autistic woman. Time to blame her for using accommodation equipment!β (Not actually Dxβing her, but I recognize a lot of my own patterns here).
Like for fuckβs sake let us have our small bits of sanity. Tuning out the constant hell that is everyday life is not a sin.
they did say she was able to pay attention just fine watching lecture videos with subtitles. Also she is just an example, they said this problem is on the rise in general.
Someone with ADHD can better focus when they get the info simultaneously as text and audio? Unbelievable! Plus it's the most over and under diagnosed disorder at the same time. Under diagnosed within women particularly. It's getting diagnosed better and more often, so it fits too.
I don't say that she has it but most neurodiverse will see lot's of checked boxes.
Someone with ADHD can better focus when they get the info simultaneously as text and audio? Unbelievable!
Or... maybe she really does have APD as her doctors says she does?
I donβt say that she has it but most neurodiverse will see lotβs of checked boxes.
...because APD has some similar symptoms to ADHD. yet there are many armchair psychiatrists in here diagnosing her with ADHD.
...podcasts and audio books that I have rewind because I forgot I was listening to something.
I sad chuckled because I am the same. On the other hand, I listen to glitchy electronic music with irregular patterns on my headphones in order to concentrate on a task. My brain tunes out the mayhem and focuses on the task at hand. Imagine a screen full of jumbled, ever changing imagery with a single fly crawling across it, but in sound. My brain will focus on the "fly" and blur out the rest because it makes no sense.
Listening to proper music has the opposite effect where it will immediately trigger my mental wanderings.
Could you share some examples of this type of music, please?
Not sure what Jo listens to but I recognized myself in his description.
You can lookup Sewerslvt (Mr.Kill Myself) for an exemple. I also listens to :
Aside from the obvious Aphex Twin tracks, here is an old one I always liked. It gets progressively more broken halfway through, which is is a good example of what I mean.
I am glad to see us respect our link-aggregation heritage of ignoring the article and starting heated discussions based on what we infer from the headline. π
It also seems that the headline currently on the article is different and switches out clickbait tactics from misleading omission to absurd pearl-clutching: "Are noise-cancelling headphones to blame for young people's hearing problems?" If you combine them, you get something closer to actual content of the article.
It also seems that the headline currently on the article is different and switches out
Both are present in the article; they don't switch out. One is the title (as you can see in the title bar of a desktop web browser) and the other is the top-level heading of the text.
Looks like Lemmy picked up the former, which makes sense considering the document structure. BBC probably should have used the same phrase in both places.
but her audiologist believes the overuse of noise-cancelling headphones, which Sophie wears for up to five hours a day, could have a part to play.
Me, wearing my noise-cancelling headphones for 10+ hours a day ....
Bad title. The article examines whether specifically noise-cancelling headphones may be involved in listening issues.
Oh boy I hope not, I love noise cancelation lol. I figure it's gotta be better than upping the volume to override the noise around me.
Maybe if they weren't all in tiny cramped apartments with paper-thin walls and multiple roommates they wouldn't need to wear headphones all the time.
Also, voice chat doesn't work very well with speakers and microphone without a lot feedback.
People with APD now have access to ANC headphones and are thus using them.
I had APD in the 70s and I have it now. Difference is that i have ANC headphones now and can get them to block out what my brain won't.
Like the rise in ADHD and Autism diagnosis... There isn't more cases, just diagnosis got better or more available.
Correlation not causation.
Idiots.
Like the rise in ADHD and Autism diagnosis... There isn't more cases, just diagnosis got better or more available.
It's both.
We're finding that even things like microplastics are causing changes that's not fully understood. There's even a recent study that links an increase in histamine to worsened ADHD symptoms.
And then there are things like poor sleep hygiene when very young can trigger a development of ADHD later on.
And then there are things like poor sleep hygiene when very young ~~can trigger a~~ correlates with the development of ADHD later on.
FTFY. Correlationβ Causation, especially in cases like you mentioned. Itβs a chicken and egg scenario.
Are kids getting ADHD because they didnβt sleep well? Or is poor sleep hygiene an early indicator of ADHD? Lots of people with ADHD have poor sleep hygiene, even as adults. Many will struggle with things like Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome, because they get their biggest bursts of focus late at night when everyone else is asleep, the brain is releasing dopamine to keep them awake, and distractions are limited. Every single adult with ADHD has stories about getting focused on a project right before bedtime, then suddenly realizing the birds are chirping outside their window and the sun is rising.
As the world become more and more noisy. And people become more a more shitty with regards of doing noise without care about how it affects others. ANC become a necessity for some people.
I am 29 and I already have minuscule hearing loss (if results of the last hearing test were factual), and I don't really listen to music/podcasts on headphones that much either.
I am also one of these people who still has regular PC speakers instead of gaming headsets or whatever.
So wait, I'm not just a grumpy old man who doesn't like a lot of noise, this is actually a disorder?
Honestly though it's an interesting question and I wonder if this is just the "natural state." I really started to feel it after I went RVing for a year. It's a relatively recent (in the overall span of humanity) development that people would be in groups large enough to make this be an issue.
Did the boomboxes-next-to-heads and the walkmans of the '80s and discmans of the '90s not count? I think a lot of game boy users also used headhpones.
I actually didn't use them that much at all, but I still have trouble hearing with background noise. Noise-cancelling headphones have actually been an amazing thing in my life because (a) it helps overstimulation and anxiety and (b) it actually helps me hear someone talking to me because it filters out the other stuff. I suspect my problems are a combination of mostly-neurological (ADHD and probably (though not officially) ASD) and maybe impacted by loud concerts and general aging-related stuff. I can still hear really high-pitched sounds and the like whereas many of my peers around my age and younger can't as well, but it's all mud to me when there's a lot of sound.
this isn't a hearing loss issue, the hypothesis is that noise-cancelling headphones specifically are causing our brains to not filter out random noises neurologically.
True. They also mention the person's rural upbringing and then moving to the city. That mirrors my experience and my hearing issues pre-date using noise canceling headphones. I always had a rough time anywhere there were lots of people and noise, but it just wasn't super common previously (I grew up in rural Ohio and have lived in some big US cities.followed by nearly a decade in Tokyo).
I'm wondering if the cause and effect are the other way around, people that have trouble with noise (such as people with APD) might want noise cancelling headphones. The rise in cases of APD might indicate otherwise, but with the information provided, it sounds like it might be under-diagnosed anyway.
The first thing many people used to assume is that if you had any problems with listening, you might be somewhat deaf. APD and other difficulties listening definitely aren't deafness, but I wonder if there is increased awareness of other reasons why someone might have difficulty understanding speech.
Maybe try McDonald's workers for further research, if it's the constant and annoying beeping of machines. Or any Japanese store where you get 3 songs blaring at the same time from different aisles, then there's some offering on a seperate stand, of course also blinking and begging for attention with additional sounds... I believe you can simulate 10 years of UK longterm exposure with a one day trip to Japan.
I pretty much never go outside without headphones now. I haven't noticed any problems with comprehending speech or sounds like described here. Sensory issues (as in being easily overwhelmed) were long gone before I got addicted to headphones. However, mother complains I am constantly speaking too loud without even recognizing it, and blames it on my hearing loss. However, I KNOW my hearing is good, because I can still hear a subtle shrill sound of a power supply on the other end of the room, even loudly enough to be bothered by it! I wonder if this could be because of headphones, that just feels peculiar.
I knew earphones made you lose your hearing faster but headphones causing issues too? Guess the only safe option are speakers :/
Next DIY project found!
I had a pair of noise cancelling headphones when I was in like seventh or eighth grade, but when they broke, I just never ended up replacing them, and I've never had noise cancelling headphones ever since.
