Frightening simulation shows what happens to your eardrums if you listen to loud music

A simulation has revealed how earbuds can damage your ears and it's got people 'immediately turning down the volume' on their devices.

Next time you plug into your earbuds to drown out the sound of your daily commute, take a moment to think about your poor ears being pounded with techno, drum and bass, house or classical - whatever floats your boat.

If you've ever felt your ears aching slightly after, this simulation is all the extra reason you need to turn the volume down a few notches.

A YouTuber called Zack D Films took to his platform last week to share a simulation revealing what can happen to your ears if you turn your earbuds up 'really loud'.

The video explains: "If you listen to really loud music through your earbuds the loud sounds cause the tiny hair cells in your inner ear to vibrate excessively.

"Over time, this intense vibration can lead to the breakdown and death of these hair cells. Once damaged, these cells cannot regeneration, leading to permanent hearing loss."

The simulation adds that if this sort of exposure happens continuously, it could even lead to the development of tinnitus - 'when you experience ringing or other noises in one or both of your ears', the Mayo Clinic explains.

And it's not taken long for people to flock to the comments to weigh in.

One YouTuber said: "I can 100 percent confirm this. My teenaged years I always maxed out the volume on my ear buds after 10 years of it my hearing is half as good as what it used to be.

"I'm not sure if this is a side effect or something else entirely, but I can now hear the very high-pitched noise all electronics make. In other words, I can hear if something is turned on, no matter how quiet the machine is."

A second added: "FYI: The ringing you hear during the absence of sound is not tinnitus, that's just the air pressure behind your eardrum pushing back against the air pressure outside your eardrum.

"It constantly creates this very quiet ringing sensation that you can only hear during the absence of all other sounds. Real tinnitus is ringing you can always hear no matter if other sounds are present."

A third commented: "POV: You're watching this video with earbuds on."

One Instagram user said: "Traumatized Button..."

And someone else resolved: "Me immediately turning down the volume after hearing 'cannot regenerate'."

If you're not sure whether your headphones are too loud or not, DeadblindUK recommends holding them out in front of you and seeing if you can still hear the music playing and checking to see if you hear any ringing, but as a general rule of thumb, you shouldn't be playing your earbuds anything above 60 percent of its volume capacity.