One in five teenagers has a hearing loss. This is a problem that will linger for a generation.
A study, just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, says researchers found a 30 percent increase in any hearing loss (including mild loss), and a 50 percent increase in mild or worse hearing loss, among teens.
The study compared teens in 2005-2006 to teens tested in 1988-1994. Girls were less likely to have hearing loss than boys, and teens living in lower socio-economic circumstances were more likely than those from wealthier families to have a hearing loss.
The study did not try to discover the cause of the loss, so let’s not rush out and do stories blaming it all on iPods.
Still, a different study in 2006 showed that teens play music more loudly than adults and that teens tend not to be aware of how loud their music really is. There also are theories that suggest we play music longer now because batteries in personal music devices have improved.
LiveScience discusses the implications, which can be long-term:
Learn more about “noise-induced” hearing loss from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders:
