Young People Are At Risk Of Hearing Loss Due To Unsafe Music Exposure, Study Said

[RAMROD 117,053]

The way young people are listening to music, whether at home or at a concert, can potentially result in wide-scale hearing loss across the globe. According to a new study, a range of 670 million to 1.35 billion teens and young adults are currently in danger of losing their hearing due to unsafe listening practices.

The study, published by the BMJ Global Health Journal, is titled “Prevalence and Global Estimates of Unsafe Listening Practices in Adolescents and Young Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” It researched the effects of listening to music through personal listening devices (via headphones and earbuds) and attending live shows at entertainment venues such as arenas, theaters, and bars.

The new research basically looked at 33 existing studies that compiled data from 35 records totaling more than 19,000 young people aged 12 to 34. Of the records, 17 focused on personal listening devices and 18 centered on live music venues. The new study determined that roughly 24% of young people were listening to music at unsafe decibel levels on their personal listening devices and that 48% of the people were exposed to dangerous decibel levels at various live venues.

With the current global population of people in that age group estimated at 2.8 billion, the aforementioned range of 670 million to 1.35 billion young people was estimated to be in danger of hearing loss.

The study is essentially a confirmation and update of a 2015 World Health Organization (WHO) warning that roughly 1 billion young people were at potential risk of hearing loss from voluntary recreational noise exposure. While there are a lot more details to the new study, the basic results can be found in its official conclusion, excerpted below:

“Exposure to unsafe listening practices from voluntary use of PLDs and attendance at loud entertainment venues is highly prevalent in adolescents and young adults. It is estimated that 0.67–1.35 billion adolescents and young adults worldwide could be at risk of hearing loss from exposure to unsafe listening practices. There is an urgent need for governments, industry and civil society to prioritize global hearing loss prevention by promoting safe listening practices. WHO global standards, recommendations and toolkits are available to aid in the development and implementation of policy and public health initiatives to promote safe listening worldwide.”

https://consequence.net/2022/11/study-1-billion-young-people-risk-hearing-loss/

full study: https://gh.bmj.com/content/7/11/e010501

[TaylorSwift 162,446]

what? i can't hear you 

[REALITY 80,165]

Me listening to Disease at full volume for the 39574737281038th time 

[DrKindnessKunt2005 6,433]

I almost caused a car crash because I got a call while listening to Dota by Basshunter. I didn’t want to answer, so I ignored it, but the call caused my headphones to turn off, and the music suddenly played out loud in the car. The sudden blast startled my mom, and I accidentally scared her while she was trying to avoid Hollywood traffic. 

[princedeeblebleble 3,641]

Thank god, I don't wanna hear any more bad news like Turd winning 

[nkta 655]

I blame The Eras tour! 

[Red 99,112]

Water is wet, study says

[Oriane 22,770]

Are concerts louder than before or something?

My mom got temporarily deaf after going to a concert, she could hear again the next day but has had issues in the left ear ever since.

[Bronco 25,127]

9 minutes ago, Oriane said:

Are concerts louder than before or something?

My mom got temporarily deaf after going to a concert, she could hear again the next day but has had issues in the left ear ever since.

Honestly in my experience the sound is better balanced than ever before at most concerts.

Maybe its a UK/Eu thing as I know we tend to be more restrictive on decibel levels

[63grekke 1,440]

Another reason why i cant stand stadium tours. They're insanely loud, especially if youre standing front row

I remember being at the Chromatica Ball and all i heard were muffled distortions in the front row... it was THAT bad. Maybe my stadium didnt have proper acoustics perhaps? idk

Never experienced this at an arena thats for sure

[ChicaSkas 24,038]

Too late. I cannot sleep without white noise now. Otherwise the inside of my skull ringing will drive me physically insane. 

 

(Sleeping during power outages when I'm forced to reckon with complete silence is a form of hell I'd wish on no one.)

 

Please protect your ears with ear plugs, use over the ear head phones with ear plugs to protect your fine hearing. Otherwise you'll end up like me, some Audio Queen lol. 

[pachinko 10,753]

Disease’s impact. 

[Plastic Flower 5,586]

This is not news tho. It's common sense.

[MichellePfieffer 224]

I got tinnitus from TCB lmao. Earplugs to all music events since then. 

[IWantYourLove 1,457]

This is me. Every time I listen to music, AirPods are on full volume because I have to feel it in my skull or I am not satisfied