One in Five U.S. Adolescents Has Hearing Loss

[bandphan]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-17/one-in-five-u-s-adolescents-has-hearing-loss-researchers-find.html

Earbuds to play a major blame...

 

[gmichael]

What?
Huh?

 

[Pyrrho]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-17/one-in-five-u-s-adolescents-has-hearing-loss-researchers-find.html

Earbuds to play a major blame...

I am not surprised. Loud music is easy to get these days, and most people are clueless about the damage that it can cause to hearing, so they damage their hearing without any concern at all. Given the ignorance of so many people, I think warning labels should be on the packaging of all audio gear about this, as people should know about it before they permanently damage their hearing.

 

[3db]

I saw this on the news last night. Thats scarey.

 

[TLS Guy]

I saw this on the news last night. Thats scarey.

Yes it is scary. The medical blogosphere is alight with this study today.

I'm not surprised. I did a recent survey for a hit and run member just recently.

To conserve battery life these ear buds and phones for on the move devices are getting more and more efficient.

I found one set that could achieve 120 db at the ears with just 120 MW.

The max power available from most of those devices is a little over 300 MW. Most can achieve 120 db at the ear with less power than this. So you can draw your own conclusions.

Headphones are tricky, because you get no sound back from the room, which is a big cue to loudness.

You get in your own isolated space with phones and it is easy to misjudge the spl. at your ears. So educating for this will be hard.

It seems to me it requires a technical solution of some type.

I'm afraid by mid life we are going to have a harvest of profoundly deaf individuals. I hate to even think about old age.

The worst of it is once the damage starts, even if they turn it down at the first sign, neural hearing loss will be progressive.

This is very bad but not unexpected news.

Before more formal steps can be taken a study will have to correlate the frequency and degree of hearing loss with these portable devices.

 

[3db]

I thought legislation was passed here in US and Canada to prevent that level of output. I maybe wrong here. I don't believe in Federal intervention but sometimes, people need to be protected from themselves.

 

[m-fine]

It is not just the SPL's they listen at, or the long hours of exposure. Ear buds and in ear monitors are suspected of causing more damage, faster than speakers or traditional open headphones. I think the compression of the music to a very low dynamic range is also a big factor. The music is ALL loud, not just the peaks so your ears no longer get a break. This is bad stuff, protect your kids and yourselves.

 

[TLS Guy]

It is not just the SPL's they listen at, or the long hours of exposure. Ear buds and in ear monitors are suspected of causing more damage, faster than speakers or traditional open headphones. I think the compression of the music to a very low dynamic range is also a big factor. The music is ALL loud, not just the peaks so your ears no longer get a break. This is bad stuff, protect your kids and yourselves.

That is a very important issue also, as the average spl is an imortant factor contributing to hearing loss.

 

[MatthewB.]

I was in traffic a few days ago and at a stop sign I hear this ungodly loud THUMP THUMP THUMP which was more of distortion and it was louder than my own car stereo, and I am thinking good lord who has this system so loud that not only is it bugging the crap out of me and obviously everyone within earshot but ruining the music i am trying to hear - in my own car. Turns out it is some kid in a POS wanna be primered out Fast and not so Furious 4 banger thinking his cheap ground effects and bass will make him look cooler blasting some horrible rap song. At the time he was sitting five car lengths away from me. FIVE!!!!! I thought good lord kid, hope your enjoying that music now cause when your 25 your gonna be deaf.

The fluid filled cochlea in his ears that interpret sound must be working on overdrive. What an idiot.

 

[dkane360]

I was in traffic a few days ago and at a stop sign I hear this ungodly loud THUMP THUMP THUMP which was more of distortion and it was louder than my own car stereo, and I am thinking good lord who has this system so loud that not only is it bugging the crap out of me and obviously everyone within earshot but ruining the music i am trying to hear - in my own car. Turns out it is some kid in a POS wanna be primered out Fast and not so Furious 4 banger thinking his cheap ground effects and bass will make him look cooler blasting some horrible rap song. At the time he was sitting five car lengths away from me. FIVE!!!!! I thought good lord kid, hope your enjoying that music now cause when your 25 your gonna be deaf.

The fluid filled cochlea in his ears that interpret sound must be working on overdrive. What an idiot.

Yea I don't understand the whole put 10 12" subs in your car and blast it thing. I heard one a few weeks ago and literally every part of the car was vibrating, right down to the license plate. It sure does sound good though...

 

[jeffsg4mac]

Well the capitalist in me says that it might be time to invest in some hearing aid stock

 

[gene]

In my dads generation, people lost their hearing from being on the frontlines of Normandy or N.Korea firing motor shells. Our generation kids are getting deaf listening to overcompressed hip hop crap on their ipods. How easy and convenient has life become for this generation?

 

[highfigh]

ur generation kids are getting deaf listening to overcompressed hip hop crap on their ipods. How easy and convenient has life become for this generation?

This comes from parents wanting to give their kids everything they want, instead of making them put in a little effort and being unable to discipline the dear little things. I was installing a security camera yesterday and a kid drove up to the house next door, so he and his friend could go somewhere. The crap he was listening to was based on a Steve Winwood song but that was only sampled. The lyrics, if you want to call them that when they aren't sung, would have disgusted any parent who has a shred of decency. It's not that it was so loud, it's just that he though he was really cool and if he thinks the lyrics are how people should be treated, he's gonna get his asss handed to him. I decided that if he was my kid, I would probably beat the crap out of him. Rich, white kids acting all gangsta is ludicrous, at best and annoying, in general.

 

[lsiberian]

This reminds me of my cousin's friend who listened to music so loud my ears where ringing after one ride with him. It was some terrible techno. He tried to educate us on good sound too. I protected my hearing a lot as a teen and still do. I'm sure there are others like me. But my mother listens to louder music than I do. My wife listens so loud that I can hear her headphones in another room.

 

[Patrukas777]

Sounds like parents need to set the volume levels on their MP3/Ipod players. My son's MP3 player has parental settings that allow me to set the max volume while he listens to his music. Sad to see the hearing loss in kids....coupled with the obesity problem and lack of parental guidance, that generation will be a train wreck.

 

[bandphan]

Sounds like parents need to set the volume levels on their MP3/Ipod players. My son's MP3 player has parental settings that allow me to set the max volume while he listens to his music. Sad to see the hearing loss in kids....coupled with the obesity problem and lack of parental guidance, that generation will be a train wreck.

There is a 3rd party app being devolved for the "I" products to set various limits including volume output. I find that the amount of personal products that allow for sd storage of music is nice but is severely complicating the issue. As mentioned over compressed music creates to many problems on to many levels.

 

[highfigh]

I don't see it as a hardware or software issue- I see it as a problem getting kids to do something sensible and thinking about the future. Sure, some of them are good kids but as a former teenager and headphone cranker I know they don't want to be told what to do, especially when it doesn't come with an explanation for why they should/shouldn't do something. I never was a fan of "Don't do as I do, do as I say".

 

[Stereodude]

What?!?!?!

 

[lsiberian]

I don't see it as a hardware or software issue- I see it as a problem getting kids to do something sensible and thinking about the future. Sure, some of them are good kids but as a former teenager and headphone cranker I know they don't want to be told what to do, especially when it doesn't come with an explanation for why they should/shouldn't do something. I never was a fan of "Don't do as I do, do as I say".

The best programs in my experience where the ones that simply laid out the cold hard facts and then let the teens decide. 1 in 5 is actually not that high IMO and probably not any higher than it was 10 years ago. This means 1 out of every 5 teens listens to music that's too loud. Awareness is key IMO.

 

[highfigh]

The best programs in my experience where the ones that simply laid out the cold hard facts and then let the teens decide. 1 in 5 is actually not that high IMO and probably not any higher than it was 10 years ago. This means 1 out of every 5 teens listens to music that's too loud. Awareness is key IMO.

Actually, it means that 1 in 5 has damaged their hearing. According to a recent article, some people are less prone to damage from high SPL music, so the results can't be taken from just the title of this thread (there are always variables). I think we all know someone who listens to loud music all the time and we can't figure out how they can hear anyone speaking, right? I do.

How they respond to the data depends on their upbringing, IMO. If they tend to be rebellious, they probably won't agree with it. If they tend to be rational and sensible, they might.