PARIS — Around one billion young people
worldwide could be at risk of hearing loss from listening to headphones or
attending loud music venues, a large review of the available research estimated
on Wednesday.
اضافة اعلان
The
World Health Organization-led study called on
young people to be more careful about their listening habits and urged
governments and manufacturers to do more to protect future hearing.
The analysis published in the journal BMJ Global
Health looked at data from 33 studies published in English, Spanish, French,
and Russian over the last two decades covering more than 19,000 participants
aged between 12 and 34.
It found that 24 percent of the young people had
unsafe listening practices while using headphones with devices such as
smartphones.
And 48 percent were found to have been exposed to
unsafe noise levels at entertainment venues such as concerts or nightclubs.
Combining these findings, the study estimated that
between 670,000 to 1.35 billion young people could be at risk of hearing loss.
The wide range is partly because some young people
are probably at risk from both factors, said Lauren Dillard, an audiologist at
the
Medical University of South Carolina and the study’s first author.
Dillard told AFP that the best way for people to
lessen their risk of hearing loss from headphones is to turn down the volume
and listen for shorter periods.
“Unfortunately, people do really like very loud
music,” she admitted.
Headphone users should use settings or apps on
smartphones to monitor sound levels, Dillard advised. In loud environments,
noise-cancelling headphones can help avoid “cranking up your music to try to
drown out all that background noise”, she added.
Earplugs should be worn at loud events like concerts
or nightclubs, she said, adding, “Maybe it’s fun to be in the front by the
speakers, but it’s not a good idea for your long-term health.”
“All of these behaviors, these exposures can
compound over the course of your entire life, and then when you’re 67 years
old, it can have a pretty big impact,” she said.
Dillard called on governments to comply with WHO
guidelines on safe listening, including making sure venues monitor and limit
music levels.
She also urged companies that make devices like
phones to warn listeners when the volume is too loud, and to include parental
locks to restrict children’s exposure.
Limitations of the research included the varying
methodologies across different studies and that none came from low-income
countries.
Stephen Stansfeld, an expert on noise and health at
Queen Mary University of London who was not involved in the research, said it
showed “the potential for serious population-wide hearing loss is very large”.
More than 430 million people — over five percent of
the world’s population — currently have disabling hearing loss, according to
the WHO, which estimates the number will
rise to 700 million by 2050.
Read more Health
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
