To really take care of your hearing you have to rest your ears periodically. You shouldn't use headphones for more than one hour at a time, because the constant exposure to sound waves generated so close to the eardrum will eventually damage the delicate lining of the ear.
Every hour, stop using the headphones and get hold of a small pepet, which you should fill with olive oil. Drop 2-3 drops into your hear with your head tilted away, and use cotton wool to plug the gap. Leave it in there for about ten minutes, then remove the cotton wool and use a clean cloth to remove any excess oil from your ears. This helps to regenerate the lining of the ear and keep everything nice and lubricated. Then you can listen away again.
Also be careful not to let the headphones press your ears against the side of your head too much - the shape of your ear acts as a damper for particularly dangerous frequencies, which can jar the small bones in the inner ear resulting in earache, and eventually partial loss of hearing. This is a leading cause of deafness in old people.
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