Using headphones has caused hearing loss in half of Brits under 35 – study
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Almost half of people under the age of 35 have hearing loss due to exposure to loud sounds in headphones.
This is evidenced by the analysis of clinical tests conducted by the British company Eargym, which specializes in the health of the auditory system. This was confirmed by the Amsterdam questionnaire on hearing impairment and disability, writes The Telegraph.
Experts say the extent to which loud or prolonged exposure to noise is causing irreversible damage to young people’s hearing is a “crisis in the making”.
Data from more than 1,000 people in the UK aged 16 to 35 between June and October 2023 found that 49% of people had ‘less than normal’ hearing, which affected their quality of life.
| Photo: Dragonlmages/Depositphotos |
A quarter of people under the age of 35 have hearing loss, and another two in five have “probable” hearing loss, according to an analysis of clinical tests carried out by British hearing health company Eargym.
Only 40 percent had no evidence of hearing loss, and the rest were undiagnosed.
Participants also completed a speech-in-noise test, in which they had to identify three digits against a background of noise at varying loudnesses in order to assess the signal-to-noise ratio.
Amanda Philpott, the former head of the UK’s public health service, noted that hearing loss in young people was mostly linked to “dangerous listening”, as well as “urban noise” from construction, roads, trains or the tube.
“We see that the use of headphones is widespread, and we usually hardly take them off. People tend to listen to music a little louder than they should and not take enough breaks. There are about 18,000 hair cells in our ear, and it is precisely those that are damaged that cannot be regenerated.says Amanda Philpott.
Ms Philpott suggested people follow the 60/60 rule, meaning listening to music at 60% volume and for no more than 60 minutes at a time.
She stated that hearing loss leads to social isolation, which can cause mild cognitive impairment and then dementia.
Read also: “7 reasons why the ears can clog and what to do about it”
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