Guinea pigs subjected to 7 days of nonstop Adele, including both compressed and uncompressed tracks, delivered a surprise: compressed music battered their tiny ears. The May 2025 experiment left researchers uneasy, hinting that even pop icons can’t out-sing sound engineering’s side effects.

Rodents exposed to relentless Adele tracks, especially the compressed versions, suffered worrying ear damage that uncompressed music didn’t cause. New research on audio compression and hearing loss now points to guinea pigs as the latest victims of the ‘loudness war’—and their ears may never forgive us.

Compressed Adele tracks triggered more ear damage in guinea pigs than uncompressed music, according to the 2025 study.