ok, suppose you're in a very loud environment. you're listening to music. in order to hear your music clearly enough, you need to turn it up very loud, but in comparison to the level of volume around you, it isn't very loud. so my question is, if the volume of the music you're listening to is only a little above that of the volume of your environment, even though it's really loud, is it not much more damaging to your ears than the noise of the environment around you, so you might as well listen to it, because your hearing's being damaged anyway? I think that got a little complicated...hope it's clear enough though.