TOP NEWS and HEADLINES

  • Researchers Discover Genetic “On-Off” Switch for Enabling Hearing in Mice
  • hi HealthInnovations Hires Yanz as Vice President of Hearing Health
  • Sonic “Flips” for Its New miniRIC Hearing Aid
  • Beltone Launches New myPAL Wireless Streamer
  • Otometrics Products Are Now on Attainia’s Health Care Supplier Portal
  • C. Scot Frink Joins Hearinghealthmatters.org
  • Panasonic Introduces New R1-W RIC Series with Bluetooth
  • Oticon Medical Sponsors Master Class on Bone-Anchored Hearing System
  • University of Michigan Poll: Parents Don’t Think Teens at Risk for NIHL
  • Argentina Passes Law for Universal Hearing Screening for Children
Another Study Warns Teens About High RIsk of Hearing Loss With MP3 Players

According to new Tel Aviv University (TAU) research, one in four teens may be in danger of early hearing loss as a direct result of MP3 player listening habits. The research was published in the International Journal of Audiology and demonstrated clearly that teens have harmful music-listening habits when it comes to iPods and other MP3 devices.

The research was led by Chava Muchnik, a professor at TAU’s Department of Communication Disorders, and involved two stages. The first stage included 289 participants ages 13 to 17 who were asked to answer questions about their habits on personal listening devices (PLDs), including their preferred listening levels and the duration of their listening.

In the second stage, measurements of these listening levels were performed on 74 teens in both quiet and noisy environments. The measured volume levels were used to calculate the potential risk to hearing according to damage risk criteria laid out by industrial health and safety regulations.

The study’s findings are worrisome, says Muchnik. He found that 80% of the study’s teen participants use their PLDs regularly, with 21% listening from 1 to 4 hours daily and 8% listening more than 4 hours consecutively. Taken together with the acoustic measurement results, the data indicate that 25% of the participants are at severe risk for hearing loss.

“In 10 or 20 years, it will be too late to realize that an entire generation of young people is suffering from hearing problems much earlier than expected from natural aging,” says Muchnik. He added that those who are misusing MP3 players today might find that their hearing begins to deteriorate as early as their 30s and 40s, which is much earlier than past generations.

Muchnik recommends that manufacturers adopt European standards that limit the output of PLDs to 100 dB. Currently, maximum decibel levels can differ from model to model, but some can go up to 129 dB, she said.

HR has published several articles on this subject including an article by Brian Fligor, ScD, in the May 2010 HR available at: www.hearingreview.com/issues/articles/2010-05_05.asp

UPS Pays $95,000 to Settle Discrimination Suit Filed by Deaf Worker

UPS Supply Chain Solutions (UPS SCS), a division of package delivery company United Parcel Service, will pay $95,000 to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EEOC had charged that UPS SCS unlawfully denied a reasonable accommodation to a deaf employee who required ASL.


Get Your Weekly Edition of THE INSIDER

Every week The Hearing Review sends out THE INSIDER, a weekly FREE e-newsletter devoted to the top hearing-related news, research, product introductions, fitting topics, and marketing research stories that are influencing your business or practice, as well as the industry at large. [register]Sign up for your free subscription[/register].