14 DAY TRIAL // The advent of iPods and other personal mp3 players over recent years has seen a lot of teenagers in America, Europe and Asia starting to listen to their favorite music anytime, anywhere, which is exactly what these devices were built for. However, most of them are fairly powerful and can generate intense sounds. Teenagers are in the habit of listening to their favorite music at maximum volumes all the time, which is something they should avoid at all costs, health experts say. Prolonged exposure to high volumes can lead to progressive hearing loss and total deafness, LiveScience informs.
In a new scientific study, performed on 31 college-aged students, experts discovered that more than half of the teenagers listened to their music players at volumes that, over five years (for example), could lead to massive hearing loss. The science team, based at the University of Southern Mississippi, says that the new study was conducted on a small batch of people, and that the lab settings were not necessarily reflective of the behavior people would normally adopt when listening to their mp3 players. Therefore, they argue, more studies are required before a clear conclusion can be drawn.
However, this is not the first investigation to highlight this danger. In Europe, such studies have been performed for a while, and the European Commission is currently planning to force manufacturers to insert safety limits into their music devices. Naturally, the Commission cannot enforce a total ban, so users will be able to skip the safeguard and listen at a max volume. However, Union officials say, this still counts as taking preemptive actions against a growing phenomenon that sees millions of teens and children at risk of losing their hearing permanently.
According to the United States Department of Labor's Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA), a 100-dB level must only be endured by employees for less than two hours, whereas a 115-dB level for no more than 15 minutes. On the decibel scale, a 10-db increase is equivalent to the sound getting ten times more intense, the Department announces. Some scientists add that, in the case of children, it becomes very difficult for parents or teachers to tell when they are listening to music at volumes that could become dangerous.
Lead researcher and audiologist Edward Goshorn explains, “It used to be in the past, for example, that [by] someone's walking around with a boom box or radio, you can hear how much loudness they're generating, and if you're an authority figure like a parent or a teacher or a supervisor, you can tell them, that's too loud.” Further details of the study will be presented on October 27 in San Antonio, Texas, at the 158th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America.