According to a thorough evaluation of the existing evidence published on Wednesday, around one billion young people globally may be at risk for hearing loss as a result of using headphones or frequenting loud music venues.
Young people were recommended by the World Health Organization-led study to be more cautious in their listening practices, while manufacturers and governments were urged to take more steps to safeguard future hearing.
19,000 people between the ages of 12 and 34 were included in 33 studies over the previous 20 years that were published in English, Spanish, French, and Russian, according to the research that was published in the journal BMJ Global Health.
When utilizing headphones with devices like cellphones, it was discovered that 24% of young people engaged in harmful listening habits.
Additionally, it was shown that 48% of people had been exposed to loud noises in nightclubs or other entertainment venues.
When these results were added together, the study calculated that between 670,000 and 1.35 billion young individuals may be at risk of hearing loss.
According to first author of the study Lauren Dillard, an audiologist at the Medical University of South Carolina, some young kids are likely at risk from both variables, which contributes to the wide range.
Turning down the level and listening for shorter periods of time, according to Dillard, are the greatest ways for consumers to reduce their risk of hearing loss with headphones.
“Unfortunately, people do really like very loud music,” she admitted.
The fact that none of the studies were from low-income nations and that different studies used diverse methodology were both limitations of the research.
The research demonstrated “the potential for serious population-wide hearing loss is very large,” according to Stephen Stansfeld, an authority on noise and health from Queen Mary University of London who was not involved in the study.
The WHO projects that 700 million individuals will have hearing loss by 2050, up from the present amount of over 430 million, or more than 5% of the world’s population.
