The noise induced hearing loss Its incidence continues to increase throughout the world. In fact, it is one of the battle fronts promoted by World Health Organization (WHO)which coinciding with the past International Hearing Daylaunched his campaign ‘To hear for life, Listen carefully!’. The objective of this initiative is to raise awareness, especially among young people, of the need to limit the volume of the music they listen to, both in entertainment venues and with their own headphones.
The WHO has been warning for years about the need for raise awareness among adolescents and young people about their hearing health. The data supports this concern. According to this organization, 1.1 billion people between 12 and 35 years old – which represents almost half of this group – are exposed to excessive noise levels. And this dynamic is closely linked to use of headphones connected to Music players.
With this new campaign, the WHO makes “a call to governments, industry partners and civil society to raise awareness of safe listening and promote it through science-based standards”. This organization insists that the noise induced hearing loss can be avoided and emphasizes that this ‘safe listening’ can reduce the risk of hearing loss associated with exposure to sounds in recreational activities.
Half of young people at risk of hearing loss
As a complement to the data published by the WHO, the ‘I study of hearing care habits’carried out by UMusic, also warned that 4 out of 10 young people admit to listening to music at a high volume, above the recommended 60 decibels. The doctor Juan Royocommunity specialist Living the Soundpoints out as an aggravating factor the fact that young people are the sector of the population that is most likely to use headphones to listen to music: “We are facing an increase in the time spent exposed to sound and at levels higher than those recommended, which poses an obvious risk to hearing health”.
Limit the volume of audio players
Given this overexposure to loud sounds, the WHO itself has been insisting for three years that You should not listen to music with headphones for more than an hour a day and at most at 60% of their maximum sound capacity..
The recommendation is especially relevant considering that many music players can offer a maximum volume that ranges between 75 and 146 decibels (dB), when the noise-induced pain threshold is around 120 dB.
Hearing protection for concerts
Another solution to avoid the impact of excessive decibels can be the ear plugs, which cushion this external aggression. In the case of musicians and sound professionals, who deal with this reality every day, there are specially designed plugs to allow them to work in the safest way.
