I love my wife. She’s a little bit bonkers in all the right ways. If you live near us then you’ll probably already know of my wife through her singing. Now, whilst I don’t think she’ll end up on X-Factor anytime soon, she does love a good singalong whilst doing housework and other mundane tasks. She does this with headphones on, and those headphones are usually my favourite ones. They’re sometimes the ones I’m supposed to be reviewing too.
Picture the scene. I get some headphones on loan to review, I open the box and… they’re already missing. My wife has taken them out and, whilst hoovering the stairs, you can find her dancing around and generally singing at full volume. Our neighbours have got used to it too, because the windows are usually open.
However, the thing is that a lot of those loan devices never actually make it that far. I’ve arrived home a number of times to find a delivery driver banging on the door, ringing the doorbell and generally looking quite annoyed whilst my wife can be heard upstairs singing “Poker Face” at full tilt.
Last night, whilst trying to prise away the latest headphones from her, the discussion did turn to just how loud she has the music. Most phones, as you’ll have no doubt experienced, let you whack the volume up to insane levels but will, strangely, warn you about it just before letting you do it anyway.
Headphones, especially the in-ear ones, have become more powerful and pack beefier bass and a more enclosed sound which can really pack a punch. If you’re suffering from hearing loss then it could be down to listening to music too loudly through in-ear headphones. If it’s a concern, like it is with me (I don’t want her to damage her hearing, despite my hearing being “selective” at times), don’t be ashamed of trying companies such as www.hiddenhearing.co.uk, who can help resolve and address these kinds of tech-related health issues like hearing loss.
So, we’ve had “words” and she tells me that she will definitely try to turn the volume down a bit, if only for the sake of the neighbours. I’ve also bought a Bluetooth speaker and hidden it on the top of a cupboard in the kitchen. After pairing it up with her phone she can now blast those tunes around the bottom floor of our house without needing to proximity of in-ear headphones.
If you know someone (such a typical teenager who spends 27 hours online a week), check that they’re not turning the volume up to dangerous levels – else you could end up losing that precious sense (or damaging it) pretty easily.