NASHVILLE, Jul 13, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Nearly one-third of music listeners
may be in danger of hearing loss, a survey conducted in conjunction with MTV.com
indicated.
The study, published in the Journal of Pediatrics, says nearly half of 2,500
MTV.com respondents experienced symptoms such as tinnitus -- "ringing" in the
ear -- or hearing loss after loud music exposure. Hearing loss was considered a
problem by 32 percent of respondents.
Study leader Dr. Ron Eavey of Vanderbilt University in Nashville conducted the
survey while working at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary at Harvard
University. It is a follow-up to his 2002 MTV survey.
Seventy-five percent of respondents owned an MP3 player, with 24 percent
listening to their music player for more than 15 hours a week.
Nearly half of the respondents also said they use their player at 75 percent to
100 percent of its maximum volume capacity. These levels exceed government
regulations for occupational sound levels, Eavey says.
"Hearing loss is so prevalent that it has become the norm," Eavey says in a
statement. "We know where we are headed; it would be a miracle if we don't wind
up with problems later on. We are starting off with a baseline of people from
our last study who are now getting elderly, and who didn't have MP3 players, who
now have hearing loss."
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