August 18, 2010 7:55 AM
Earbuds causing hearing loss in kids
One in Five U.S. Adolescents Has Hearing Loss; Earbuds May Be to Blame
By Nicole Ostrow - Aug 17, 2010 4:00 PM ETHearing loss among U.S. adolescents has surged, probably because of the use of devices such as earbuds for listening to music, doctors say.
Researchers surveyed a sample of children ages 12 to 19 in 2005 and 2006 and found that 19.5 percent had some hearing loss, compared with 14.9 percent in a study covering the years 1988 to 1994, according to a report published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Hearing loss of 25 decibels or more -- enough that the children were often aware of the deficit -- increased to 5.3 percent of the sample, from 3.5 percent in the earlier group.
Listening to loud sounds through earbuds -- the tiny electronic speakers that fit into ears, for use with personal music players -- is probably the main reason that more adolescents are losing some of their hearing, said William Slattery, director of clinical studies at the House Ear Institute, a Los Angeles medical practice, who wasn't involved in today's study.
"Once you have hearing loss, there's a greater risk of that hearing loss progressing as you get older," Slattery, a clinical professor in the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, said today in a telephone interview. "Here is a major study that demonstrates that teenagers are having hearing loss in a significant percent of children. It can happen and it does happen."
Teens and parents need to be told that hearing loss from noise that occurs early in life isn't reversible, he said.
Effect in School
Hearing loss may affect teenagers' social development and education, said Gary Curhan, an author of the study, who is an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a physician at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston.
Read more at Bloomberg
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Art note: Girl with Pearl Earbuds (with apologies to Vermeer) by Option8.
