Teen hearing loss on the rise.

Don

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Yeah, yeah. They said the same thing about rock music in the sixties.

"Can somebody get the phone? It won't stop ringing!"

Now, what were we talking about? My memory's not so great anymore.
 

Vince524

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If it trends this way for a few years, maybe there will be cause to be worried. Otherwise, I'm not going to panic. Of course, I just took my 11 year old daughter to see KISS in concert, so maybe I shouldn't talk.
 

Devil Ledbetter

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May be due to ear-buds, maybe not.
That, and those booming bass car stereos. I don't know how anyone can ride around like that and not suffer hearing loss.

I've also heard the big-bass car stereos contribute to male infertility, so it seems there is at least a Darwinian upside.
 

tarcanus

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I don't think it's the ear buds so much as that teens are some of the worst offenders (in my experience) of just naturally cranking the volume to max when they listen to anything.

The fact that hearing loss is on the rise isn't surprising in the least.
 

Kitty Pryde

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They've been saying this for decades, and yet all the hearing-impaired people I know have congenital or genetic hearing loss. Where are all these Walkman/Discman/iPod-blasting hearing-impaired people hiding out?
 

Tom from UK

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This comes up fairly regularly. Many years ago, when I was studying and covering hearing, I was told that the BBC routinely gives hearing tests to its employees. Examination of historical data going back decades suggests that there really has been a decline in hearing.

I don't have a source and I don't know if it's still true but if it is, then I think it deserves wider publicity. I use ear buds and don't worry about it too much but I was on the train the other day near (not next to) someone with ear buds and I could hear not only the bass line but the melody! That's destroying hearing.

Problem is, we live in an increasingly noisy world and much of the noise is quite unnecessary. There was a thing in the newspaper just yesterday where people living near a station complained of being woken at 6.00am by announcements telling passengers to 'Mind the gap'. The railway says they have to make loud announcements for health and safety reasons. Really? At 6.00am? To tell people to look where they step when they get off the train?
 

regdog

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I've lost some of my range of hearing. I cannot understand what is being said to me from another room, although I can hear a person talking. According to the audiologist who did the test, the majority of the hearing I lost is consistent with my former occupation, dental assistant, not loud music. The high pitch of the handpieces causes many in that profession to have hearing problems.
 

Don

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BFD. When's the last time a teenager ever listened to anybody, anyway?
 

regdog

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They don't have to Don, most of them know everything already
 

LOG

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It certainly may be the stereos.
When I can feel the sub-woofers from the end of the hallway, it's too loud.
After having already put up with this crap for a year already, I hope they blow out their sub-woofers and lose their hearing. Petty of me, I know. -.-

Asking them to be quiet is all but pointless, it's as if they think my request for them to be quiet expires after a few hours or something...

I've lost some of my range of hearing. I cannot understand what is being said to me from another room, although I can hear a person talking. According to the audiologist who did the test, the majority of the hearing I lost is consistent with my former occupation, dental assistant, not loud music. The high pitch of the handpieces causes many in that profession to have hearing problems.
Why not just have them wear earplugs?
 
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icerose

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They've been saying this for decades, and yet all the hearing-impaired people I know have congenital or genetic hearing loss. Where are all these Walkman/Discman/iPod-blasting hearing-impaired people hiding out?

They're not deaf as teens, they have hearing loss, meaning they've lost some of their natural range. I've met plenty of them, my husband is one of them though his is because of heavy equipment. His dad is the same way. I have a neighbor who isn't even thirty yet who always talks THIS LOUD.

They aren't deaf. They don't need hearing aids...yet, but it does greatly increase their chances of needing hearing aids as they age.
 

Zoombie

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I'm only deaf when i have my earphones in because they're really really really high quality and noise canceling and such.
 

blacbird

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It's a lot more than just loud car stereos and earbuds. Go to any business frequented in a major way by the younger crowd and listen to the background cacaphony of canned music. I cannot go into a Best Buy anymore because of the noise level. No amount of racket seems to be sufficient.

I saw an article just this week about the necessity felt by young people for constant digital stimulation, which is unquestionably related. How many people do you know who cannot be without a cellphone in their ear more than two minutes? And it isn't just young people, either.

I said this once before, some weeks ago, in another thread, but it's worth repeating: When I was a kid, a lot of us were afraid of the dark. Kids now are more afraid of the quiet.
 

regdog

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Why not just have them wear earplugs?

More and more are now wearing them. I wasn't aware the problem existed until it was too late. I think that is the problem for a lot of people in the field.