It is, wat?
There is a lively conversation going on, but you are left out because it is difficult for you to hear what is being said.
This situation is probably familiar to many.
And now, the results of a new study indicate that a very significant proportion of young people worldwide will soon come to know this scenario all too well.
These people are at risk of hearing loss, both in the short and the long term, concludes the study, which was recently published in British Medical Journal Global Health.
The researchers reviewed scientific studies in this area and found that between 670 million and 1.35 billion teens and young adults are at risk of hearing damage.
Two big culprits
The analysis included data from 19,046 people between the ages of 12 and 34 living in countries with high to medium wealth. The researchers determined how many of these young people hear noise that exceeds 80 decibels for more than 40 hours a week.
Sound levels of 80 decibels or higher are generally considered potentially harmful to hearing.
For comparison: the noise level during a whispered conversation in a library is around 25 decibels.
Traffic noise on a busy street typically reaches 50-60 decibels, and noise in a nightclub or from a drill can exceed 100 decibels.
The researchers analyzed two factors associated with hearing loss.
They looked at the noise and volume to which young people are exposed when they wear headphones or earplugs, and at the noise level in bars, discotheques and nightclubs where the music is very loud.
According to the results, 23.8 percent of young people who turn up the sound of their headphones are in the danger zone for hearing damage.
The same applies to almost half of young people who expose themselves to loud music in nightlife venues.
Snail shell is damaged
The level at which hearing is definitely damaged varies from person to person.
However, one thing is certain: it is dangerous to expose your ears to a high level of noise for a long time.
The snail shell (cochlea), in the inner ear, in particular, can be damaged.
In the cochlea, the sound waves vibrate tiny hair cells connected to nerve fibers. Sound vibrations are converted into signals that travel to the brain via the auditory nerve.
But when the hair cells are exposed to noise, they can send erratic or unclear signals, which can be detrimental to hearing.
It may seem unbelievable that more than a billion young people are at risk of hearing loss for the rest of their lives.
Nevertheless, the researchers’ conclusion is consistent with other estimates in this area.
For example, the World Health Organization (WHO) suspects that more than half of everyone between the ages of 12 and 35 listens to music through ‘personal sound units’ that are so loud that they endanger their hearing.