Hearing health experts recommend the 60-60 rule for listening with headphones, and as someone who's always wearing headphones or earbuds, I generally follow that guidance. Here's what to know about it and how your devices can help you abide by it.

The 60-60 rule asserts that you shouldn't listen to music at a volume louder than 60% of maximum for more than 60 minutes at a time. Listening to your headphones at a safe volume is paramount to preserving your hearing. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, noises at or above 85 dBA, about the sound of a gas-powered push lawnmower, can damage your hearing.

Here's how the damage happens: Inside your ear is the cochlea, a small spiral-shaped organ that converts sound vibrations into electrical impulses for your brain to interpret as sound. You have thousands of hair cells on and around your cochlea that use their sensing organelles to detect, convert, sharpen, and amplify sounds. Excessive volume can damage or destroy these hairs, and they cannot regenerate. Once they're damaged, it's permanent.

Several headphones and earbuds include a setting in their companion app that can notify you when you've been listening too loudly for too long. Some headphones might also automatically reduce volume if you've been listening too loudly.