Are Bluetooth Headphones Dangerous?!

Wireless headphones have a lot to offer in terms of convenience. Truly wireless earbuds are also becoming an extremely popular choice for both active and casual listeners. After all, most of us appreciate compact devices that easily fit inside our pockets. 

Does their convenience come with a price? Are Bluetooth headphones dangerous?! Should you worry about your physical health before you decide to try a pair for yourself? If you’re curious about any possible health risks involved with everyday listening, you’ll want to consider the most current science on the subject.

Keep reading to learn about some of the most popular myths and whether or not they’re actually grounded in reality!

Are Bluetooth Headphones Dangerous?!

We’ve all seen at least one superhero movie where the main character is exposed to radiation or what should’ve been a deadly cocktail of dangerous chemicals. Immediately after, they develop some sort of superhuman abilities. 

Of course, comic books and movies are fictional and your chance of developing extra stretchy limbs or the ability to alter the size of your body on command after being exposed to radiation is pretty slim. 

Are You Being Exposed To Radiation?

One of the most common worries is concern about being exposed to radiation. Is it based in fact, or a myth that needs to be busted? If you are being exposed to radiation, can it cause significant harm to your brain? Let’s take a look at the science!

Types of Radiation Linked To Cancer

For this discussion, we’ll be focusing on 2 types of radiation; ionizing and non-ionizing. Ionizing radiation can cause damage to your cells and DNA and is easily the more harmful of the two.

This type of radiation is emitted from X-ray machines and ultraviolet rays from the sun. (That’s why doctors recommend sunscreen.)

Non-Ionizing Radiation

Headphones emit what’s called ‘non-ionizing’ radiation. Common household items such as microwaves, cell phones, and even radios emit non-ionizing radiation. They produce what’s considered to be a very low level of radiation. Has it been shown to cause cancer? 

According to the National Cancer Institute, non-ionizing radiation has not been linked to the development of cancer. 

Cell Phones vs. Other Household Devices

Take cellphones for example. They also utilize radio frequency signals to transmit and receive data. When they first gained mainstream popularity, there were similar concerns about potential health risks. 

There’s no debate that cell phones emit a stronger frequency, although it’s still minimal compared to the microwave in your kitchen. Current studies regarding other wireless technology have stirred up some controversy. For example, the FDA acknowledges that they do expose us to radiation, but haven’t made any claims that it causes significant harm. 

Other organizations, such as Defender Shield (who specialize in creating radiation-blocking products) recommend using radiation-free air tube headphones to completely eliminate RF exposure. (After you’ve read all the evidence, you can decide if that’s the best route to take.) 

Is There A Healthier Alternative?

With that in mind, headphones produce an even lower level of emission than your smartphone. Studies report that Bluetooth earphones emit a signal that’s 1/1000th the strength of radiation emitted by a cell phone antennae. 

This is why some experts in this field actually recommend using wired or wireless earphones as a healthier alternative to physically holding your phone against your ear. 

If you want to take it a step further, you can even try taking calls using the built-in speaker. According to that theory, the more distance you can put between you and any device that uses radiofrequency waves, the better. 

That said, most experts aren’t ready to say that these extremely weak signals don’t have an effect. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll all wake up with the ability to climb walls or turn into a big green giant when we get angry.

Maybe the hours and hours of time we spent listening to music won’t seem as frivolous as non-melomaniacs would like us to believe. (Until then, there’s no point in losing any sleep over it.)

Wearing Wireless Earbuds All Day

If you’re still skeptical and want to decrease any potentially chemically-altering effects, you might consider limiting the time spent wearing earphones like AirPods, for example. Most of the studies we read while doing our research for this post disprove the theory that Bluetooth technology is harmful or life-threatening. 

While that’s true, we likely won’t know exactly how it’s affecting us until decades of studies have been conducted. Until then, there are a few steps you can take to reduce your exposure if you still have any major concerns. 

Steps To Minimize Exposure:

• Limit time spent listening
• Use wired headphones (or a Bluetooth headset) when you talk on the phone

Watch the video below to see how the radiation produced by the average wireless headset compares to other common household devices:

Are you still worried about the harmful effects? Hopefully, the explanation in the video helped ease any concerns you had before you found this post. If not, you’ll want to keep scrolling. 

Should You Be Worried?

As of now, there isn’t any substantial proof that listening to music via Bluetooth is harmful to your health. Although we can’t necessarily guarantee that they won’t impact you in any way, wireless headphones should be the least of your concern. 

If anything, the most evidence-based approach to limit exposure would be to avoid holding your phone against your ear for extended periods of time. Until more research is done on the effects of lower-level radiation exposure, we can’t say with any true conviction that Bluetooth headphones are dangerous. 

We will continue to keep an eye out for more studies as they’re released and update this information as needed. Don’t throw away your wireless headphones just yet! Even if you literally never take them out of your ears, you can rest assured that your exposure is extremely minimal.

What do you think? Has your mind changed at all now that you’ve seen the current research? Are you more or less skeptical now?

Leave your answer below and let us know what you think! We respond to every single comment and are curious to see what you think. Thanks for dropping by and expanding your knowledge, we hope to see you again soon!