Cut music to just one hour a day to save your hearing

THE tinny buzz of music leaking from the earphones of a teenager is a familiar sound in many households.

But these young people aren’t just risking the wrath of their parents – they could also be permanently damaging their hearing.

The World Health Organisation has warned that half of young adults are jeopardising their hearing by listening to music at unsafe volumes. It said that audio players, concerts and bars were all posing a ‘serious threat’.

‘What we’re trying to do is raise awareness of an issue that is not talked about enough,’ said Dr Etienne Krug, the WHO’s director for injury prevention.

‘[It] has the potential to do a lot of damage that can be easily prevented.’

Globally, 43million people aged 12-35 have hearing loss and the prevalence is increasing, the agency’s figures show.

It also said that nearly 50 per cent of people in this age group in rich and middleincome countries were exposed to unsafe sound levels from personal music players.

The WHO has now recommended that people use earphones for no more than an hour a day. But Dr Krug advised caution even within this limit.

Volumes of around 85 decibels for eight hours, or 100 decibels for 15 minutes are considered unsafe. Typically, the level of noise in a quiet house is just 25 decibels, while the sound of a dishwasher is 43 decibels and a normal conversation about 50 decibels.

Dr Ralph Holme, head of biomedical research at charity Action On Hearing Loss, said: ‘Loud sound damages the tiny hair cells in the cochlea (the inner ear) that detect sound vibrations, causing them to degenerate. Once lost, the cochlea can’t regrow them, so the hearing l oss is permanent.’