News
1 out of 5 US teenagers suffers from hearing loss
Study - 24/08/2010
A team of US researchers has just published a study regarding the hearing of US teenagers in the Journal of the American Medical Association. By comparing the results of 2 campaigns carried out respectively between 1988-1994 (2928 adolescents aged 12 to 19) and 2005-2006 (1771 adolescents), they revealed worrying results.
1 out of 5 teenagers suffers from hearing loss corresponding to the hearing capacity of a 50 or 60-year-old, an increase of 30% compared with the results of 1988-1994. Moreover, 1 out of 20 suffers from a serious hearing loss liable to disturb their education, an increase of 70% compared with the study carried out 15 years ago.
This hearing loss is more frequent among boys, as well as teens from families living below the poverty line. High frequencies (high-pitched sounds) are affected more often than low frequencies (low-pitched sounds).
The study did not establish a cause and effect relation with the development of the use of MP3 players these last few years, but this is one of the explanations considered by researchers. Indeed, teenagers tend to underestimate sound levels and do not take the necessary precautions: listening at a lower level and/or for a shorter time in order to preserve their hearing potential, explains Dr Josef Shargorodsky, one of the team’s researchers.
Cyberpresse.ca reports that Dr Daniel, chief of the ENT department of the Montreal Children’s Hospital, carried out a study on the habits of teenagers. “When there is noise, for example in the street or the underground, they tend to increase the volume by six to ten decibels. It is a lot. In a quiet environment, only 6% of users choose a very high sound level on their MP3 players, but in a noisy environment, 80% do. One solution would be to use earphones that cancel environmental noise. With this type of earphones, only 20% of users choose a very high sound level in a noisy environment.”
This hearing loss is more frequent among boys, as well as teens from families living below the poverty line. High frequencies (high-pitched sounds) are affected more often than low frequencies (low-pitched sounds).
The study did not establish a cause and effect relation with the development of the use of MP3 players these last few years, but this is one of the explanations considered by researchers. Indeed, teenagers tend to underestimate sound levels and do not take the necessary precautions: listening at a lower level and/or for a shorter time in order to preserve their hearing potential, explains Dr Josef Shargorodsky, one of the team’s researchers.
Cyberpresse.ca reports that Dr Daniel, chief of the ENT department of the Montreal Children’s Hospital, carried out a study on the habits of teenagers. “When there is noise, for example in the street or the underground, they tend to increase the volume by six to ten decibels. It is a lot. In a quiet environment, only 6% of users choose a very high sound level on their MP3 players, but in a noisy environment, 80% do. One solution would be to use earphones that cancel environmental noise. With this type of earphones, only 20% of users choose a very high sound level in a noisy environment.”
Regulations - 13/12/2011
The European Commission presented last December 9th a proposal...
