Guinea Pigs Were Made To Hear Adele’s Music for a Week — Scientists Found Alarming Ear Damage

We have constantly heard from people that listening to music at extremely high volumes or for long periods can damage your ears. A few months ago, a group of scientists decided to test this notion in a strange yet revealing experiment. For a week, they exposed a few guinea pigs to popular singer Adele’s soulful music, and what they found out was eye-opening. The results of the study left researchers both shocked and concerned. To come up with the results, researchers compared two types of sound recordings—one in a compressed format and the other in an uncompressed format.

If you make music or are even if you're passionate about it, you might be well aware of the compression technique. It evens out the sounds and makes it clearer and louder. This can also help turn weak drums or lighter bass into something more powerful, as reported by Music Radar. However, it has now been proven that overusing compression isn't a good thing. The debate over compression being a good thing or a bad thing has been going on for several years, and new medical evidence confirms that it can have harmful effects. Compressed music can allegedly harm your sense of hearing in ways that uncompressed music does not.

For the experiment, researchers divided the guinea pigs into two sets. One set heard Adele’s song in its full, untouched quality, while the other was exposed to a heavily compressed version. Both groups listened to the songs at a volume of 102 decibels—the kind of volume that’s not just too loud, but potentially damaging for the ears too. Two large speakers were placed just 40 centimeters from the cage, keeping the sound level steady throughout. For four continuous hours, they played Adele’s 2015 track ‘I Miss You,’ a song that has racked up more than 150 million streams on various musical platforms.

In four hours, the guinea pigs heard Adele’s song 41 times every day. After about a week-long experiment, results showed that the guinea pigs’ inner ears displayed signs of temporary damage, but it was expected to turn into permanent damage if not taken care of. However, what was even more shocking was that the guinea pigs who were exposed to the compressed soundtracks suffered more severe and lasting damage to the stapedius muscle in the middle ear. The other group recovered completely within just a day.

Meanwhile, music is compressed due to various reasons. One reason is that people often listen to songs while doing other activities like writing, engaging in household chores, driving, and more. In such a situation, you might feel annoyed if you listen to uncompressed music, as it constantly shifts the volume level, as reported by CNET. Additionally, when you are listening to songs in a shuffle mode, there's a high chance that you might skip listening to the quieter songs and jump to the next tune. Despite this, it is very important to be mindful of how long you listen to music. Avoid long, continuous sessions, especially at high volumes or through headphones, to protect your ears from any major damage.