By Woojung Choi |Staff Writer|
Hearing loss problems are 30 percent higher among teens today than during the 1970s and 80s, according to Tamara Sacharczyk of Chicopee, MA channel 22 News.
Today’s youth in general are more at risk of sustaining hearing loss by listening to loud music.
They are aptly labelled the “deaf generation” and portable music players and earbuds contribute to this epidemic, according to Susan Donaldson James of NBC news.
“Earlier this year the World Health Organization warned that 1.1 billion young people are at risk of hearing loss because of personal audio devices, such as smartphones, and damaging levels of sound,” according to James.
James added that noise levels can reach 120 decibels and people can be exposed to them for hours, particularly at concerts and music festivals.
“When using headphones in a noisy place like a school bus or subway, the tendency is [to] turn the volume up,” according to James.
James recommended using either noise-cancelling or noise-isolating headphones to block out or reduce external noise.
“A ‘deaf generation’ exposed to constant noise may be losing the ability to hear as nature intended, a sound expert has claimed,” according to Press Association of Daily Mail.
Other factors that may cause auditory problems include age, genetics, illnesses, neurological disorders, medications, exposure to chemicals, and physical traumas to the head, according to nationaldaycalendar.com.
Many Coyotes also experience forms of hearing loss problems and some are trying to prevent permanent damage, but not everyone is worried.
“I honestly don’t care about that right now. I blast my music because it gets me going and I can actually feel it. In the future, I’ll get a hearing aid if necessary,” said student Thomas Gutierrez.
Student Summer Zeit only listens to music when she works out because she tries to avoid headphones.
“I honestly feel like I am having trouble hearing at times. I have gone to the doctor to get my ears checked, but they said I’m fine. Some things that I have done to prevent hearing loss is lowering the volume of my headphones when I work out,” said Zeit.
“I have really good hearing and, thankfully, I haven’t experienced hearing loss. However, I am aware that our generation is having hearing problems due to loud music that they listen to through headphones or even at parties,” said student Anthony Olivar.
Olivar added that he tries to prevent hearing loss by lowering the volume when listening to music with headphones.
“Yes, I worry about loss of hearing. I’ve spent time filming at concerts and I’ve been up close to the speakers which has taught me that I should wear earplugs at those events,” said media lab assistant Adam Ghossein.
“I do think I will have hearing problems in the future because of how often I wear headphones, but I think most of today’s youth don’t think about the consequences of wearing headphones,” continued Ghossein.
Many of the factors that contribute to hearing-loss are preventable, so ask yourself what measures you can take to protect your ears.
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