You could join 1.1 billion deaf youths, if…

The World Health Organization in its latest report has stated that some 1.1 billion teenagers and young adults are at risk of hearing loss due to the unsafe use of personal audio devices, including smartphones, and exposure to damaging levels of sound at noisy entertainment venues such as nightclubs, bars and sporting events.

The study indicates that among teenagers and young adults aged 12 years to 35 years in middle and high income countries, nearly 50 per cent are exposed to unsafe levels of sound from the use of personal audio devices and around 40 per cent are exposed to potentially damaging levels of sound at entertainment venues.

“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 WHO Director for the Department for Management of Non-communicable Diseases, Disability, Violence and Injury Prevention, Dr Etienne Krug,

He explained in the report that everyone should be aware that once hearing is lost, it won’t come back, hence the need for people to take simple preventive measures like using appropriate intensity or volume of sounds, as well as the frequency and duration of listening to such sounds.

The study also suggests that exposure to loud noise can result in temporary hearing loss or tinnitus which is a ringing sensation in the ear, and when the exposure is particularly loud, regular or prolonged, it can lead to permanent damage of the ear’s sensory cells, resulting in irreversible hearing loss.

It also said that teenagers and young people can better protect their hearing by keeping the volume down on personal audio devices, wearing earplugs when visiting noisy venues, and using carefully fitted, and, if possible, noise-canceling earphones/headphones.

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