NEW YORK - Listening to loud
music with earphones on a digital music player for more than 90 minutes a day
can damage your hearing, according to a new U.S. study.
The study of 100 doctoral students concluded that people who listened to
music at 80 percent of volume capacity, at which point the sound is considered
loud, should stick to under 90 minutes a day.
"If a person exceeds that on one particular day and happens not to use their
headphones for the rest of the week, they're at no higher risk," study author
Brian Fligor told Reuters. "I'm talking about someone who's exceeding 80 percent
for 90 minutes day after day, month after month, for years."
The study also found no problems for people who listened to music at 10
percent to 50 percent of maximum volume for extended periods. It found, however,
that anyone who listened at 100 percent for more than five minutes faced the
risk of hearing loss.
The findings of the study, co-authored by doctoral candidate Cory Portunff,
applies to children and adults. The researchers do not know if children are more
susceptible than adults.
The scientists found no differences in sound levels between brands of digital
music players or between the genres of music tested which ranged from rock,
R&B, country, to dance.
Fligor, an audiologist at the Children's Hospital of Boston and faculty of
Harvard Medical School, said people who consistently listen to high levels of
volume don't realize that hearing loss can take up to 10 years to show up.
"I worry about the teen-ager who's going to be 23, 24, 25 years old and has a
measurable noise-induced hearing loss and now has another 60-something years to
live with his hearing which is only going to get worse," said Fligor, who will
present his study on Thursday to a conference in Cincinnati.
Fligor will also present the findings of another study, co-authored by Terri
Ives of Pennsylvania's College of Optometry's School of Audiology, that found
in-ear earphones, which broadcast sound directly into the ears, are no more
dangerous than headphones that are placed over the ears.
Both studies are being delivered to a "Noise-Induced Hearing Loss in Children
in Work and Play" meeting.
