One billion teenagers and young adults could be at risk of losing their hearing because of loud music, a new study has warned.
Loud headphones and earphones, and going to concerts, are all contributing to a crisis in the ears of young people.
New research has found that almost half (48 per cent) of 12-34 year-olds are exposed to music at unsafe levels that could put their hearing at risk.
Young people are particularly vulnerable because of their use of personal listening devices, like smartphones, hooked up to earbuds, and going to concerts.
The research was published in the BMJ Global Health and called on governments to step in to save young people’s hearing.
The researchers warned: “Recurrent or even single instances of unsafe listening may cause physiological damage to the auditory system, presenting as transient or permanent tinnitus and/or changes to hearing.
“Damage from unsafe listening can compound over the life course, and noise exposure earlier in life may make individuals more vulnerable to age-related hearing loss.”
In their work, the authors analysed 33 studies involved over 19,000 people and estimated that approaching one in four (23 per cent) of adults were exposed to excessive noise
But more worryingly the experts, led by academics at the University of South Carolina in the US, believed almost half of people aged 12 to 34 were exposed to dangerous levels of noise.
This was in their headphones and also in music venues as well.
The researchers cautioned there was ‘limited certainty’ in the estimate and they believe the global number of teenagers and young adults who could be at risk of hearing loss, as a result, ranges from 0.67 billion to 1.35 billion.
The authors' findings did not account for ‘demographic factors’ that could lead to more or less exposure to loud noise, but concluded that as many as a billion teenagers and young adults could be at risk of hearing loss in later life.
They said: “Unsafe listening practices are highly prevalent worldwide and may place over one billion young people at risk of hearing loss.
“These findings highlight the urgent need to implement policy focused on safe listening habits worldwide in order to promote hearing loss prevention.”
