I use headphones to listen to music, just like any normal person. The ones I have are noise cancelling so I can’t hear background noise when using them. I turn the volume up loud when I expect to have some free time. Sometimes headphones I use are designed poorly and leak noise so other people besides myself can hear it.
My family always judges me harshly for it. They complain it’s “ReAlLy LoUd” when the headphones are badly designed. No amount of arguing can convince them otherwise. No, it’s not because the music is ToO LoUd. It’s because the headphones are poorly designed. I wish they could get that through their thick skulls. Also, it takes them a really long time to get my attention if the volume is turned up high. Sometimes they call my name multiple times and even have to touch me to get my attention. And then they complain that the music is ToO LoUd. What if the headphones are noise cancelling. No, it’s not because the music is ToO LoUd. Do you even know what noise cancelling is? It’s because they’re literally DESIGNED to drown out background noise. That’s the point of headphones. I feel like my parents don’t even know what headphones are designed to do in the first place.
They say “TuRn ThE VoLuMe DoWn!!!!” Well, I could, but, 1. It makes it harder to listen to music, and 2. I hear the background noise more which makes it even harder to listen to music. So I can either only listen to music loudly or be able to hear my parents calling for my attention. I’m at a loss for words as to how I can solve this problem. I can’t do both at the same time. Only one or the other.
I’ve actually destroyed multiple pairs of headphones because of this. I blamed the headphones for this problem and destroyed them as a result. One time I used a pair of scissors to cut a pair of earbuds in half and they became surprised when I couldn’t listen to the same loud music that caused this problem in the first place.
And these are the same parents who decided to buy me wireless, *noise-cancelling* earbuds, for that matter, for Christmas. And they become surprised when I actually USE them to their full potential.
How do I stop this?
TL;DR: Parents judge me harshly for using headphones like literally any normal person would use them.
9 comments
I was like you. The constant ringing in my ears over the last 20 years hasn’t been pleasant.
You need to get your hearing tested. If you can’t listen to music already without it being extremely loud on noise cancelling, you’ve likely damaged your hearing and will only make it worse.
Listening to music even through noise cancelling headphones doesn’t need to be so loud you can’t hear people talking to you. I’m sorry to tell you it sounds like either your music is genuinely too loud, or perhaps you’ve already lost some hearing, and you don’t realise how loud the music is. I use noise cancelling headphones everyday in a workshop with machinery around me, and I can still hear my colleagues talking or calling out to me. I would recommend going to a doctor to get my hearing checked asap. You don’t want to end up losing most of your hearing or worse yet get tinitis. Sorry mate, sometimes parents are right even if they’re parents.
>And they become surprised when I actually USE them to their full potential
Really? You have to use earbuds on full volume? Good luck hearing anyone, who’s not screaming in your ear, in your latter years.
As others have said, if it’s so loud, that you can’t hear when you are called, or others are hearing your music, turn it down.
You are not a kid anymore. So stop acting like one.
Holy shit, turn your headphones down. YTA here.
Your music is too loud. If they can hear it fine when you’re wearing headphones, but you still need it on blast, your hearing is likely already damaged, and will continue to worsen as years pass.
The problem is your hearing, not the headphone design.
I wear headphones a lot, the kind that fit inside your ear. Can’t hear much of anything when I have them on so I make sure other people in the house know I’ll be wearing them before I put them on – it saves people yelling pointlessly. It also makes people less likely to interrupt me, because they’ve got to decide whether it’s worth actually getting up and going to wherever I am in the house instead of just yelling my name. And it’s polite to let people know you won’t be able to hear them, so I imagine it would improve the reaction of your parents.
If you’re listening to music so loudly that the noise is audible to people around you, you need to turn it down because you are damaging your hearing. I use inside-ear headphones that create a bit of a seal so I can get that all encompassing sound without making myself deaf. My hearing is fantastic and in my mid-thirties I can still hear mosquito alarms, bats and all manner of annoying high pitched noises. It also means people around me can’t hear the music, which is more polite than forcing everyone to listen to the shitty tinny sound of other people’s musical tastes through headphones.
My advice is get some decent well designed headphones, tell your parents before you put them on, and get your hearing tested before you deafen yourself.
I know this makes me sound a bit like a boomer but if someone else can hear the music you‘re listening to with headphones, it‘s definitely too loud. It‘s also very bad for your hearing. The fact that you listen to it so loudly implies that there‘s already damage.
I think it‘s actually kind of rude to use noise cancelling headphones as a tool to ignore your parents. Is there an issue in your relationship why you‘re literally trying to not hear them talking to you?
And why did you destroy your own headphones?