Keep the decibels down – WHO

In a bid to safeguard hearing, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Telecommunications Union has issued a nonbinding international standard for the manufacture and use of audio devices. Young people are particularly prone to risky listening habits. About half of those between the ages of 12 and 35, or 1.1 billion people, are at risk due to “prolonged and excessive exposure to loud sounds, including music they listen to through personal audio devices”, the UN health agency said.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pointed out that the world already has “the technological know-how to prevent hearing loss”.

“It shouldn’t be the case that so many young people continue to damage their hearing while listening to music,” Ghebreyesus said. Young people, he added, “must understand that once they lose their hearing, it won’t come back”.

Presently, about 5%of the global population, or about 466 million people, including 34 million children, suffer from disabling hearing loss.

WHO said it remained unclear how many of them had damaged their hearing through dangerous use of audio devices. It considers a volume above 85 decibels for eight hours or 100 decibels for 15 minutes as unsafe.

The safe listening devices and systems standard calls for a “sound allowance” software to be included in all audio devices, to track the volume level and duration of a user’s exposure to sound and to evaluate the risk posed to their hearing. This system could alert a user if they have dangerous listening habits. WHO is also calling for parental as well as automatic volume controls on audio devices to prevent dangerous use. – AFP