AMA report: Teens are losing their hearing at an alarming rate

From the NY Daily News:

Can you hear me now?

Teens are losing their hearing at an alarming rate, according to a recent study by the American Medical Association.

Nearly 20% of U.S. adolescents – about 6.5 million teens – have some form of hearing loss.

"Teenagers really underestimate how much noise they are exposed to," Dr. Josef Shargorodsky, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, the study’s lead researcher, told the Associated Press.

The researchers compared hearing loss in nearly 3,000 adolescents tested between 1988 and 1994 to nearly 1,800 kids tested between 2005 and 2006, and found that the prevalence of hearing loss rose from roughly 15% to 19.5% between the first and second surveys – a 31% increase, according to RedOrbit.com.

The use of the "ear bud" style of headphones while listening to high-decibel music is a possible culprit. Specific devices – such as the iPod – were not named in the study.

Kids today are listening to music twice as long as kids of previous generations and a much higher volume, said Brian Fligor, an audiologist at Children’s Hospital Boston.

In a study of about 200 college students, Fligor found that more than half listened to music at 85 decibels or greater – about as loud as a vacuum cleaner. Consistently listening to music at such high levels can turn the microscopic hair cells within the inner ear into scar tissue, Fligor told the AP.

How much are teens missing out on?

Someone with a slight hearing loss "will hear all of the vowel sounds clearly, but might miss some of the consonant sounds," lead author Dr. Gary Curhan told the AP. "Although speech will be detectable, it might not be fully intelligible," he added.