Open-ear headphones lack bass and tempt users to raise volume against background noise

Evidence

Open-ear headphones are designed for maximum openness and transparency with the intent that the user can listen to sound while being fully aware of their surroundings. They are good choices if you are active outdoors and want to hear oncoming traffic or any situation where you need to be aware of sounds around you. The main issue with these headphones is they generally lack bass, and you tend to turn them up in the presence of competing background noise. This raises a question whether certain headphone types are more prone to producing hearing loss than others. — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 1702

Categorization

• QUESTION: The author raises but doesn’t resolve whether certain headphone types promote hearing loss — worth following whether later chapters address this.
• SEED: Angle: the safety tradeoffs of transparency-oriented headphones vs. sealed isolation — a hearing-health essay framing device choice as a risk profile.