One Billion Young People Risk Hearing Loss: According to a study released on Tuesday, unsafe music listening practises are endangering the hearing of up to 1.35 billion young adults worldwide.
Many persons between the ages of 18 and 34 have been observed to regularly use personal headphones to listen to music at amusement parks where the sound is excessively loud and for unsafe amounts of time, endangering their hearing in the future.
The research, which was directed by the World Health Organization, examined data from 33 peer-reviewed studies on hearing loss that involved a total of more than 19,000 participants over the course of 20 years. The study came to the conclusion that it was “essential” to encourage better listening habits after discovering that young people frequently listen to music at high levels deemed harmful.
They said that noise levels in entertainment venues often range from 104 to 112 dB, and that headphone users around the world regularly listen to music at 105 decibels. Both of these levels are over what is advised, but other elements, such as the volume and frequency of the sound, also play a role in evaluating the potential damage to hearing. According to the National Institutes of Health, sounds at or below 70 decibels, or the volume of typical conversation, are generally regarded as safe and unlikely to result in hearing damage.
Sam Couth, an ear-health expert at the University of Manchester, advised The Washington Post that it’s a good idea to remove ear buds from your ears and hold them at arm’s length. And it’s too loud if you can still hear the music clearly when you’re far away.
According to NIH recommendations, hearing loss can result from prolonged or repeated exposure to sounds that are 85 dB or more. The time it takes for noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) to occur decreases with increasing sound volume. And a motorcycle or a dirt bike makes noise at roughly 85 decibels.
In a study released this week, researchers calculated that between 18 and 29% of young people around the world regularly exposed themselves to dangerous levels in loud places and just under half of them did so while using headphones. They estimated that between 665 million and 1.35 billion young people worldwide are at risk using data from the United Nations on population.
Maybe your mother was right when she said listening to loud music could be damaging your hearing.
A new study has revealed that over one billion young people are at risk for hearing loss due to unsafe listening practices, such as loud headphone use and attending concerts. pic.twitter.com/Xd7UHcJU9L
— 10 News First Queensland (@10NewsFirstQLD) November 17, 2022
It also supports findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which concluded that hearing loss caused by exposure to loud noise affected between 10 million and 40 million persons under the age of 70 in the United States and was a “major, frequently ignored health problem.”
According to Couth, loud noises are dangerous for ear health because they harm the outer hair cells in the cochlea of the ear. “These cells are in charge of amplification; they improve our hearing. We won’t be able to hear as well if they are destroyed by loud noise since they won’t be able to magnify background noise. Additionally, recent research suggests that loud noises may irreversibly damage the auditory nerve’s link to inner hair cells, which delivers sound impulses to the brain.
At a loud performance or music venue, experts recommend moving away from the noise source, taking frequent breaks, and, as a last resort, wearing high-fidelity earplugs made for professional musicians. Unlike typical earplugs, which can reduce noise by lowering higher-frequency noises but not lower-frequency ones, these devices include a flat, attenuated filter that allows all frequencies along the sound spectrum to reach the inner ear.
Beyond the brief ringing that may last a few days, loud noises permanently harm the outer hair cells, according to Couth.
He cautioned that studies have connected hearing loss to depression, loss of livelihood, and even an increased chance of dementia. “Your hearing isn’t going to come back once you’ve lost it, so you’re going to have hearing loss for the rest of your life,” he said. Your quality of life will be affected for the rest of your life, says the speaker.
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