One Billion People risk suffering hearing loss due to loud music from gadgets and other sources

Over 1 Billion people risk hearing loss

On every turn, there is the possiblity of seeing someone with an eyepiece hanging onto his or her ear. I was in a meeting earlier today and the speaker thought that why some young people behave in the way they behave may be simply because more and more people are spending a whole lot of time on their earpiece, either on their laptops or on their smart phones. And this number is increasing by the day.

I have always thought that apart from the social component of over dependence on earpiece, there is that one obvious downside to the continual use of the eyepiece - Deafness. Read what the WHO have to say about it;

“As they go about their daily lives doing what they enjoy, more and more young people are placing themselves at risk of hearing loss,” said Dr. Etienne Krug, WHO director of the Department for Management of Noncommunicable Diseases, Disability, Violence and Injury Prevention, in a press release. “They should be aware that once you lose your hearing, it won’t come back. Taking simple preventive actions will allow people to continue to enjoy themselves without putting their hearing at risk.”

Do you know that almost 50 percent of people between the ages of 15 to 35 who llive in middle or high income earning countries, put themselves at risk of hearing problems while they listen to their personal gadgets like laptops and smartphones. This is according to the WHO. Also, 40 percent of people risk coming down with hearing loss, when they go to bars, clubs, Concerts, sporting events etc. There is also an increased rate of hearing loss over the past decade.

Common sounds like that of an airplane, thunder, and even a hair dryer are all louder than 85 decibels (dB) — as sounds get louder than this, the duration of time we can safely listen to them quickly decreases. Clubs, bars, and other venues often play music over 100 dB and most people who use personal audio devices listen to them at a range between 75 and 105 dB. People “may expose themselves to the same level of loudness in 15 minutes of music at 100 dB that an industrial worker gets in an 8-hour day at 85 dB,” the report said.

The solution is to limit our exposure to such sounds from whatever source as described. This saves us from joining the over 43 million young people with hearing losses.
The funny thing is that a lot more older people are getting on with this dangerous trend.

Even world leaders have caught the bug!!