STATISTICS: Hearing loss due to loud music

Dr David Cotlar - Pediatrics

What a fantastic study for my project! Fantastic facts and figures. 
Dr David Cotlar

Pursue this study published by the RNID?

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March 22, 2011

A study published across the Atlantic by the Royal National Institute for Deaf People also brought to attention what is described as an alarming rise in deafness among the young due to the popularity of very loud music. This report focused on loud music exposure in concerts and at clubs, as well as with personal stereos, pointing out that (in England) workers are required by law to be offered ear protection if exposed to noise about 85 decibels, whereas concert volume levels may be amplified to above 120 db, which is 1000% (remember logarithms?) louder than 85. Note was made of one American concert which registered music played at 150 db - which is twice as loud as the 140 db of jet take-off levels. Nightclub music levels were in the 95 - 110 db. range, but as this exposure was for hours (even with "all nighters") the danger is enhanced by duration. 


One British study found up to 73% of rock concert attendees reported hearing loss of tinnitus or both, and the figure for “clubbers” was 66%.  Obviously, these numbers are difficult to interpret and, in reality, statistically reliable numbers for well-controlled studies would have to take numerous variables into account.

But does anyone really need precise numbers to recognize what an enormous—actually tragic– problem it is for adolescents and young adults to begin to experience irreversible hearing loss so early, with all its academic, social, professional, and even psychological implications and consequences?  And the damage extends beyond the loss of hearing.  Tinnitus, persistent ringing or other disturbing sounds in ear or head, is also a distinct and additional risk of music at high volumes,  sometimes temporary and sometimes permanent.  Older people who experience tinnitus will often emphatically complain about the extreme levels of disturbance to general well-being that accompanies the condition, and the difficulty in finding any way of treating it.

Counseling  adolescents (and now even older children) on these risks has for a long time been part of anticipatory guidance in maintenance health care in pediatric offices, and the limited success is having our advice heeded is simply another component of the perception of invincibility that many young people have.  Nonetheless, the bolstered recent findings of the increase in this serious, yet preventable health risk simply underscores the how vital it is  that physicians, parents, and others in appropriate positions, at least earnestly and competently try to make the advice  convincing enough.

Source:  Bloomberg article by Nicole Ostrow based on Journal of the American Medical Association

Royal National Institute for Deal People, article by medical correspondent Jan Murray