> and of course the mild hearing loss that accompanies _any_ frequent headphone usage

curious, you got any citations for this claim?

"Loud" is a bit subjective, but in my experience most people make their volume far too loud. Even moreso if you're attempting to overcome the background sound around you.

The articles below discuss both volume and duration. It's also worth checking out the OSHA guidelines which pretty cleanly show the relationship between duration and volume. (ie, "safer" volumes still cause damage with enough duration.)

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/how-to-rock-out-with-ear-...

https://healthcare.utah.edu/healthfeed/2024/01/listen-headph...

https://www.cnet.com/health/wearing-headphones-right-now-fol...

https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/noise/prevent/understand.html