Hear, hear!
More young people facing hearing loss
Hearing loss isn’t just a Baby Boomer issue anymore – young adults are experiencing hearing problems too, studies show.
According to American Hearing and Audiology, 10% of Millennials (people now in their 30s and 40s) and 17% of Gen Z (people in their late teens and 20s) suffer from some form of hearing loss.
The main culprit: Young people are particularly vulnerable because of their use of personal listening devices (PLDs), such as headphones and earbuds, and exposure to loud music at venues.
An international team of researchers estimates that 24% of 12- to 34-year-olds are listening to music on personal listening devices at an “unsafe level.” The findings were published in the journal BMJ Global Health.
In recent years, there has been an increasing incidence of hearing problems among young people – school students, college students, and working professionals, due in great part to the improper and excessive use of headphones, said Debra Conn, a hearing care practitioner for Beltone Hearing in Uniontown.
“The duration and intensity that younger folks are listening to music or podcasts can cause hear loss. When you’re young, you think you’re invincible, but once you’ve lost your hearing, you can’t get it back,” said Conn. “Once it’s gone, it’s gone.”
For people over 50, hearing loss is often caused by age-related changes in the ear or auditory nerve. That natural process can be impacted by hereditary factors, head injuries, illnesses or infections, some prescriptions, circulatory problems and of course, excessively loud noise.
For people under 50, being around excessive noise is the main cause of early onset hearing loss. The National Council on Aging defines excessive noise as “85 decibels (dB) or louder for an extended amount of time, like using a leaf blower for two hours without ear protection.”
It’s not so much leaf blowers for Millennials and Gen Z, said Conn. It’s blasting that true crime podcast or that Sabrina Carpenter song at full volume on their AirPods.
The shift to digital music, games, and streaming TV or movies has increased the amount of time people are using headphones or ear buds for entertainment. They deliver unregulated sound right to the sensitive parts of your ear, noted Conn.
And it’s not just concerts that will leave your ears ringing: sporting events, bars and restaurants are often designed to be loud and can hammer people with advanced sound amplification technology.
Conn said it’s important “to pay due diligence” to our listening habits and “manage what you do” in order to protect our hearing.
“It does take concerted awareness and effort to change listening habits, but you need to,” said Conn.
There are simple measures people can take to protect their hearing in daily life.
Among them, Conn suggests, is adhering to a 60/60 rule – listening at 60% volume for 60 minutes at a stretch.
“Normal listening is 55 dB while a vacuum is in the 90 dB range, so about 65 to 70 decibels is generally safe,” said Conn. “Eighty-five decibels and louder can lead to hearing loss over an extended period of time.”
Wear hearing protection. If you have a noisy job or participate in noisy activities, consider wearing earplugs or ear muffs – something parents are increasingly purchasing for their children to wear at parades and other loud events. Even a small amount of hearing loss in children can affect their speech, language comprehension, communication, classroom learning, and social development.
Conn pointed to a survey at the University of Michigan, where only 20% of parents reported monitoring the volume or time on the devices their children used.
“It’s tough love, but you really have to pay attention to the volume your children are listening at and set limits for how long they’re listening,” she said.
Get your hearing checked regularly.
“It’s important to book regular hearing checkups so you can have your hearing documented and be aware if there are changes,” said Conn.
Hearing loss, Conn said, is no longer just an age-related issue. And it affects more than just your ears. It often hinders conversations with family and friends, causing words to sound muffled, increasing listening fatigue, and forcing a reliance on repetition, which can result in frustration and social withdrawal.
“It’s really important to catch it as early as possible,” said Conn. “There are warning signs to look for. If you’re not hearing at conversation level, if you’re turning the TV volume up so you can hear but it’s loud for everybody else, if loud sounds don’t bother you, these are things to pay attention to.”