About a billion young people may become deaf, says US study

According to a study by the Medical University of South Carolina, in the United States, more than a billion young people are at risk of losing their hearing. The reason is listening to loud music at concerts and using headphones and other personal listening devices. Check out more about the search!

The researchers estimated the number of people at risk by assessing the prevalence of unsafe listening practices among adolescents and young adults. We used 3 studies with data from more than 19,000 participants, aged between 12 and 34 years.

Seventeen of the studies focused on personal listening devices (PLDs such as smartphones and headphones) and 18 were based on noisy entertainment venues.

So with a global population in this age group of 2.8 billion and the prevalence of PLD use and frequency in entertainment venues noise ranging from 24% to 48%, researchers estimated that 0.67 to 1.35 billion adolescents and youth are at risk of losing hearing.

Excessive use of appliances

Young people should be aware of the risks associated with excessive use of headphones and exposure to loud sounds and should taking steps to protect your hearing, such as using volume-limited headphones and earplugs in environments noisy.

Most users typically choose volumes up to 105 dB, much higher than levels generally considered safe. That's because safe levels are 80 dB for adults and 75 dB for children, according to previous research. The average volume of the entertainment venue ranges from 104 to 112 dB.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said that around 430 million people worldwide have disabling hearing loss.

It is important to seek medical help if there is any suspicion of hearing loss. Treatment may include medications, hearing devices, speech therapy, or surgery, depending on the cause and severity of the hearing loss.

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