A new study focusing on what parents worry about for their teenagers has yielded some surprising results. The study, conducted by the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery shows that parents worry more about their kids damaging their hearing than they do about other health-related issues, including ear infections, sleep problems and asthma.
The fears aren’t unfounded, according to hearing specialists. As personal music players have become ubiquitous among teens, doctors say they are seeing increasing numbers of children and teens for hearing evaluations.
“We certainly are seeing more and more children who seem to have acquired hearing loss,” said Dr. David Tunkel, chief of pediatric otolaryngology at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore and chairman-elect of the academy’s pediatric otolaryngology committee.
Though studies that chronicle the rise in hearing loss are sparse, Tunkel said, the anecdotal evidence that hearing loss is occurring earlier is clear. “We certainly test more for it,” he said, and other experts agreed.
About 12.5 percent of youths ages 6 to 19 — or about 5.2 million U.S. kids — have sustained permanent hearing damage from excessive noise exposure, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The rise in popularity of personal music players, plus teens’ love of loud rock concerts, underlies much of the problem, Tunkel said.
A whisper is typically 30 decibels, the unit of sound measurement used by ear specialists. Loud music, but music not played loud enough to drown out conversations, is about 85 decibels, according to the academy.
Be sure teens have an idea of how loud is too loud. Tunkel suggests a simple test: If others can hear the music when a teen is listening with headphones or earbuds, the music is way too loud.
