Which of these should not be included in a summary of this article?
A.Experts suspect that listening to loud music on earbuds is causing the rise in hearing loss.
B.A study found that 19.5 percent of teens tested between 2005 and 2006 had hearing loss.
C.Some of Matthew Brady's favorites groups are Daughtry, Bon Jovi, and U2.
D.The percentage of teens with hearing loss has increased since about 1990. BOSTON, Massachusetts. A recent study revealed that one in five
Most of the hearing loss in the teens was "slight." Researchers defined "slight" as an inability to hear at 16 to 24 decibels. A teen with slight hearing loss might not be able to hear sounds such as leaves rustling or someone whispering. Dr. Gary Curhan was the study's senior author.
According to Curhan, people with slight hearing loss can hear vowel sounds clearly. However, they might miss sounds from some consonants, such as t, k, and s. Experts warn that this minor loss of hearing is sufficient to cause problems in school. It also sets the stage for hearing aids later in life.
"Although speech will be detectable, it might not be fully intelligible," Curhan said. Researchers lack final evidence that listening to iPods and other music devices is to blame for hearing loss in teens. However, researchers did note a significant increase in high-frequency hearing loss.
This particular type of hearing loss, researchers said, indicates that noise may be to blame. Researchers cited a 2010 Australian study. The study linked the use of personal listening devices with a 70 percent increased risk of hearing loss in young people
"I think the evidence is out there that prolonged exposure to loud noise is likely to be harmful to hearing, but that doesn't mean kids can't listen to MP3 players," Curhan said. "Our hope is we can encourage people to be careful."
Loud music isn't anything new, of course. Each recent generation of teens has found a new technology to blast music. Teens listened to bulky headphones in the 1960s and used the handheld Sony Walkmans in the 1980s. Today's teens, however, spend more time than ever listening to music. In fact, according to audiologist Brian Fligor, young people spend more than twice as much time listening to music than previous generation
One of Fligor's patients is 17-year-old Matthew Brady of Foxborough, Massachusetts. Matthew has a mild hearing loss. He has trouble hearing his friends in the school cafeteria. He has admitted to occasionally faking comprehension. Matthew used to listen to an iPod turned up too loud and for too long. Fligor believes this caused Matthew's muffled hearing.
Matthew used to crank up the volume on his favorites—Daughtry, Bon Jovi, and U2—while walking on a treadmill. He did this at least four days a week for 30-minute stretches at a time. One day last summer, he got off the treadmill and couldn't hear anything with his left ear. His hearing gradually returned, but it was never the same.
Matthew's fondness for listening to loud music in not uncommon. During a study of college students, Fligor found that more than half of those tested listened to music at 85 decibels or louder. That's about as loud as a hair dryer or a vacuum cleaner. According to Fligor, regular listening at those levels can turn microscopic hair cells in the inner ear into scar tissue. Fligor believes that some people, such as Matthew, may be more likely to experience damage than others.
These days, Matthew still listens to his digital music player. But now he listens at lower volumes.
"Do not [blast] your iPod," Matthew cautions other teens. "It's only going to hurt your hearing. I learned this the hard way."