[ti:One Billion Young People Risk Hearing Loss From Loud Music] [ar:Anna Matteo] [al:Health and Lifestyle report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]From VOA Learning English, this is the Health and Lifestyle report. [00:05.53]One billion teenagers and young adults around the world [00:11.00]risk losing their hearing by listening to loud music. [00:15.65]This is according to the World Health Organization. [00:19.42]The U.N. agency is asking young people [00:23.60]to turn down the volume to prevent irreversible damage to their hearing. [00:30.00]Few things get the blood pumping like good music. [00:37.95]Many people believe louder is better [00:41.55]if you are listening to rock and roll. [00:43.89]But experiencing really loud music, [00:47.51]even really good music, [00:49.97]can have a serious effect on your hearing. [00:53.01]Dr. Shelley Chadha is a specialist on hearing damage [00:59.03]for the World Health Organization. [01:01.23]Dr. Chadha says that the cells we use to hear, [01:05.55]called sensory cells, [01:07.80]can be permanently damaged by loud sounds [01:11.51]that happen over a long period of time, [01:14.27]or are prolonged, and happen regularly, or are habitual. [01:20.68]"When this exposure is particularly loud or prolonged or habitual, [01:27.20]the sensory cells are damaged permanently [01:31.65]leading to irreversible hearing loss." [01:35.02]Studies in middle-and high-income countries [01:38.37]show nearly 50 percent of teenagers and young adults [01:43.07]aged 12 to 35 years listen to unsafe levels of sound. [01:49.09]They are listening on their personal audio devices [01:53.34]as well as at concerts, nightclubs and other entertainment places. [02:00.26]But what is an unsafe level of sound? [02:04.08]The WHO says there can be many kinds of unsafe levels of sound. [02:09.89]It depends on how loud the sound is and how long you listen to it. [02:16.45]Unsafe can mean noise levels of 85 decibels [02:22.25]for eight hours a day or 100 decibels for just 15 minutes. [02:28.64]Dr. Chadha told VOA when the intensity of sound increases [02:34.65]by only three decibels, safe listening time goes down by half. [02:40.85]"If a person takes a subway to go from one place to the other [02:45.66]for half an hour in the morning and a half an hour in the evening, [02:48.51]and every day has to turn up the volume on his device [02:51.40]because there is so much of noise of the train and everything around, [02:54.75]and is listening to - let us say 100 db (decibels) for one hour every day, [02:59.79]his hearing is going to get irreversibly damaged in a few years, [03:04.98]in a couple of years time, for sure." [03:07.35]Dr. Chadha says there are simple measures [03:10.40]to protect people from unsafe sound levels. [03:13.80]She says young people who wear earplugs [03:17.19]during concerts can enjoy music at 90 decibels [03:21.23]as much as they can at 110 decibels. [03:24.57]But she admits that earplugs may not look very cool. [03:30.68]"The fact that earplugs may look un-cool may be true today, [03:36.02]but if there is a change in behavior [03:39.02]that may not necessarily be true in the future [03:41.91]and wearing earplugs may actually be cool." [03:44.81]A common sense suggestion is to turn down the volume [03:48.36]on your personal audio devices. [03:50.17]The WHO also advises young people to limit their use of such devices [03:57.46]to less than one hour a day. [04:00.21]It reminds people to use their technology to stay safe. [04:05.55]Smart phone apps can help to monitor safe listening levels. [04:11.00]The U.N. agency estimates 360 million people [04:16.71]suffer hearing loss linked to many causes, [04:20.45]including noise, genetic conditions, infectious diseases and aging. [04:27.63]It notes half of all cases of hearing loss are avoidable. [04:33.13]And that's the VOA Learning English Health and Lifestyle report. [04:37.98]I'm Anna Matteo. [04:39.37]¸ü¶àÌýÁ¦Çë·ÃÎÊ51voa.com