One billion young people potentially at risk of hearing loss from devices and loud concerts, study claims (BSL)

We are currently trialling a new service for adding BSL translations to the site with Signly. To see the BSL translation of this article, click on the signing hands icon at the bottom right side of the page! Then click on the text, then swipe or click on the play button to see it in BSL. 

More than a billion young people around the world could be at risk of losing some of their hearing based on attending loud concerts and their use of listening devices, according to new analysis from a group of researchers.

Academics from Switzerland, America, Sweden and Mexico reached the estimate after gathering the results of 17 studies concerning the use of personal listening devices (PLDs) and 18 studies focused on loud entertainment venues. The total 33 studies came from 20 countries around the world.

The “pooled” analysis found unsafe use of PLDs – such as headphones and earbuds – and attendance at loud entertainment venues among young people were 24% and 48% respectively.

This was combined with the estimated global number of people aged between 12 and 34 in 2022 (2.8 billion) to give the final estimate that 0.67 to 1.35 billion young people are potentially at risk of hearing loss.

“There is an urgent need for governments, industry and civil society to prioritise global hearing loss prevention by promoting safe listening practices,” the researchers concluded.

Previous data has revealed PLD users turn the volume up as high as 105db, while the average sound level at entertainment venues ranges from 104 to 112db.

Both of these are above the 85db threshold where sounds can begin to damage a person’s hearing over time.

The authors also acknowledged that their estimate does not account for demographic information or policy changes in this area in particular countries or regions.

The full paper is available to view on the British Medical Journal’s website, under its Global Health journal.

By Liam O’Dell. Liam is an award-winning Deaf freelance journalist and campaigner from Bedfordshire. He can be found talking about disability, theatre, politics and more on Twitter and on his website.

---

Update – 17/11/22: Speaking to the Evening Standard, the Royal National Institute for Deaf people’s (RNID) audiology advisor Franki Oliver said the study “should be a wake-up call” for people to take their hearing health seriously “from a much younger age”.

“We know that exposure to loud noise increases the risk of developing permanent hearing loss or tinnitus, but the really important thing to remember is that this is preventable,” she said.