MP3 players cause hearing loss at an early age

Loud music and long periods of listening wear the hearing down at an early age. A test showed that 45 out of 358 students at a prep school in the United States had significant hearing loss. The common denominator was that they all listened to MP3 players.

Students at Harvest Preparatory Academy in Ohio probably consider turning the volume down after a test revealed that 12.5 percent of the entire student body had significant hearing loss. “This is terrible. This means that there is speech these kids are unable to discern, that they’re probably having a hard time listening in class”, said Lin Hamill, a health care educator of Audibility Hearing Care, who conducted the test. Youngsters being unable to hear teachers in a classroom is obviously a major problem. Additionally, straining to hear can cause fatigue and headaches, making it harder to concentrate. These are serious consequences and as the youngsters grow older their hearing will only worsen due to the normal decay of sensory hair cells in the inner ear over time.

More and more sound

Hearing professionals and medical advisors have been warning against headphones and earbuds for years, but parents and kids have largely ignored the problem. “The issue,” pointed out Wayne Chiavacci, a local paediatrician, “is more urgent than ever as manufacturers keep coming out with new things for kids to stick in their ears.” Examples include hands-free solutions for telephones and the merger of phone and MP3player. Many young ears are loaded with sound most of the time. Source: yumasun.com: “MP3 players raise concern about youths’ hearing.”