The cause? The ubiquity of personal music players is certainly one factor—perhaps the major factor—in hearing loss among the relatively young, but many of us also live generally "louder" lifestyles. For instance, I often use a Bluetooth headset with my Pocket PC, and I sometimes have it cranked up in order to drown out the sounds I'm hearing with my other ear (something I don't do while driving, for the record). But that's not the end of it: how many of us spend hours a day in front of a computer listening to MP3s or even watching movies or TV at loud volume while working? I'm certainly guilty.
So what's the best practice? Keep it quiet, yo!
Researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital determined that listening to a portable music player with headphones at 60 percent of its potential volume for one hour a day is relatively safe.
Part of the problem, I think, is that people just don't have a sense of what sound levels are safe to begin with. We all know that rock concerts are outstandingly loud events. That leaves a lot of grey area, however. Given that suggest that as many as 5 million Americans aged 9 to 16 have hearing loss derived from noise exposure, and 50 million Americans have early signs of noise-induced hearing loss, this is no minor matter.
Should companies like Apple take the initiative and add functionality to music players that assess the safety of output sound levels? Given the wide-variety of headphone options and quality, is it even possible? One thing seems clear: turning a deaf ear to this problem isn't wise.
" Millions of youngsters across Europe could suffer permanent hearing loss after five years if they listen to MP3 players at too high a volume for more than five hours a week, EU scientists warned Monday.
The scientists' study, requested by the European Commission, attacked the concept of "leisure noise," saying children and teenagers should be protected from increasingly high sound levels -- with loud mobile phones also coming in for criticism.
"There has been increasing concern about exposure from the new generation of personal music players which can reproduce sounds at very high volumes without loss of quality," the Commission, the EU's executive arm, said in a statement.
"Risk for hearing damage depends on sound level and exposure time," it said. More and more young people were exposed to the significant threat that leisure noise posed to hearing, it said.
Commission experts estimate that between 50 and 100 million people listen to portable music players on a daily basis.
If they listened for only five hours a week at more than 89 decibels, they would already exceed EU limits for noise allowed in the workplace, they said. But if they listened for longer periods, they risked permanent hearing loss after five years.
The scientists calculated the number of people in that risk category at between five and 10 percent of listeners, meaning up to 10 million people in the European Union.
Sales of personal music players have soared in EU countries in recent years, particularly of MP3 players.
Commission experts estimate unit sales between 184 and 246 million for all portable audio devices just over the last four years, of which MP3 players range between 124 and 165 million.
Mobile phones used at excessive volume also came under fire from Meglena Kuneva, the EU's consumer affairs commissioner.
"I am concerned that so many young people ... who are frequent users of personal music players and mobile phones at high acoustic levels, may be unknowingly damaging their hearing irrevocably," she said in the statement. "
