Health experts warn noise-canceling headphones could be linked to this specific brain condition

Health experts have warned against noise-canceling headphones as they may be linked to a specific brain condition that affects three to five percent of school-aged children.

In the busy world we all live in, it can be tempting to stick noise-canceling ear buds in and block everything out, right?

It's even useful to stick them in at the office when trying to get some work done and avoid distractions, but health experts are now warning against doing as such.

Five audiology departments in the NHS have been speaking to the BBC, where they revealed they've seen an increase in people experiencing health issues.

But rather than the problems stemming from the ear, experts have discovered the issues in hearing actually stem from a brain condition.

Noise-canceling headphones may not be so good after all (Getty Stock Photo)

Three to four percent of the US population have auditory processing disorder (APD), a 'specific learning disability' under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) that affects an individual's ability to process sounds.

According to the NHS, a child with APD may find it difficult to understand people speaking in noisy places, those with strong accents, fast talkers, similar sounding words, and spoken instructions being said to them.

The condition does not show up on a hearing test as it's not a hearing condition, so those who have APD usually have perfectly fine hearing.

Speaking of the condition, neurologist Martin Kutscher, MD, told Additude: "The brain processes these electrical impulses into sounds, then into words, and then into meaningful sentences and ideas.

"Most of us do it effortlessly. Some adults have problems in converting these electrical neuronal impulses into meaning. We call these problems central auditory processing disorders."

The condition is often mistaken for a hearing condition (Getty Stock Photo)

Claire Benton, vice president of the British Academy of Audiology, spoke to the BBC on how headphone use can impact this.

"You have almost created this false environment by wearing those headphones of only listening to what you want to listen to. You are not having to work at it," the expert said.

"Those more complex, high-level listening skills in your brain only really finish developing toward your late teens. So, if you have only been wearing noise-canceling headphones and been in this false world for your late teens, then you are slightly delaying your ability to process speech and noise."

Typically, APD is caused by a head injury, chronic ear infections, or even meningitis.

As well as impacting a person's ability to hear, the condition can affect someone's ability to read and spell.