Personal audio players have permanent effect on hearing

People who use personal audio players should limit their use to an hour per day as well as turn the volume down in order to prevent permanent hearing damage according the World Health Organization.

Specifically young people are at a high risk for hearing loss because they have had longer instant access to personal MP3 players and they tend to listen to their music at a higher volume.

Dr. Shelly Chadha, a WHO expert on hearing loss, said, "where you cannot understand conversation around you, you know that this is too loud."

Walking across any college campus, Stephen F. Austin included, it is evident that students listen to their personal audio devices throughout the day. Some students are rarely ever seen without their headphones in their ears. Young people often listen to music in order to avoid conversations with strangers or to avoid people they have no desire to talk to.

"Teenagers and young people can better protect their hearing by keeping the volume down on personal audio devices, wearing earplugs when visiting noisy venues, and using carefully fitted, and, if possible, noise-cancelling earphones or headphones," WHO said, urging them take short listening breaks and restrict the daily use of personal audio devices to less than one hour.

While students argue that listening to music helps calm them down and relax, it is evident that an over exposure of it can lead to long lasting effects. Some 360 million people worldwide live with disabling hearing loss caused by a variety of factors, including chronic infection, rubella and exposure to noise, according to WHO.

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