More than a billion young people are at risk of losing their hearing because of listening to loud music, a new World Health Organisation (WHO) report warns.
The WHO study found that among people aged 12 to 35, nearly half were at risk of hearing damage because of loud music, be it at live venues or on personal devices.
The report recommends that the 1.1 billion young people affected should turn the volume down or limit their listening to 15 minutes a day.
Dr Shelly Chadha, an expert in hearing loss prevention for the WHO in Geneva, led the study, which analysed data from high and middle-income countries.
It found any more than 15 minutes of daily exposure to music louder than 85 decibels could cause serious problems in a relatively short period of time.
“We have bones inside the ear which are responsible for hearing and when we are exposed to loud sounds it damages them,” she said.
“If one is exposed to sounds which are 85 decibels, it would sound like if you were sitting inside your car in heavy traffic. That level of sound one can actually listen to safely for up to eight hours.
“But if you were to go on increasing the sound, and if you’re listening to your music at 100 decibels, [that] would sound something like what a lawnmower would sound like.
“If you’re exposed to that intensity of sound, you can listen to it only for about 15 minutes or less than 15 minutes, and if you listen for longer than this on a daily basis, it’s bound to damage your hearing cells.”
Hearing damage ‘much easier’ with modern technology
Rock stars including The Who’s Pete Townshend and Neil Young suffer form hearing problems because of years of playing live.
But now experts are warning that new technology such as MP3 players and in-ear earphones is making it easier for music fans to blow out their eardrums.
“In the past you had to turn your stereo up so the whole family was affected and families would be upset and say ‘turn the stereo down’,” audiologist Wendy Pearce explains.
“Whereas now people can do it on an individual basis. The fact that you can deliver a lot of sound very efficiently to the ear means it’s much easier for damage to happen and of course, we know that young people will get totally involved in what they’re doing and forget to switch off and not move on.
“Other people can’t hear that it’s happening so they don’t regulate for them as they would have would have with a stereo or something similar in the past.”
Ms Pearce advised young music lovers to “turn it down”.
“You don’t need it to be drowning every other sound out,” she said.
“Have a rest from time to time. You need to stop, pay attention to what’s happening in the world.
“Turn the music down, make sure you’re doing it for much less time, and less loud.”