A new survey has found that listeners who listen to music with the volume on high would willingly use ear protection or turn down the sound volume if advised to do so by a health-care professional. After being exposed to loud music, almost half of participants admitted to experiencing symptoms of tinnitus or hearing loss. 32 % were afraid of hearing loss as a problem.
In this study, around 75% of listeners used an MP3 player and 24% of them listened to it for over 15 hours a week. Almost half of them use their music player at 75-100% of its maximum volume, which goes above government rules for appropriate sound levels. 89% of respondents admitted to turning up the volume on their music player when surrounded by ambient sounds like traffic or subway noise.
Loss of hearing has become normal because it is expected to happen to everybody as aging happens. 90% of men over 60 years older now have hearing loss. However, as people become more aware that they can protect their ears, hearing loss will decrease.
