Hearing loss among youth caused by loud noises like headphones or live music concerts is not as prevalent as previous research suggests, according to a new study by University of Minnesota researchers.
The study comes to a different conclusion than a similar one published in the Journal of the American Medical Association last month. The JAMA study estimated 19.5 percent of 12- to 19-year-olds in the United States have some sort of hearing loss.
The University study, led by researchers Bert Schlauch and Edward Carney, found that much of the reported hearing loss in the JAMA study and others could be attributed to false positives during research.
”The methods we use are really good for identifying significant hearing losses,” Schlauch said. “This early evidence of a hearing loss due to noise exposure involves high frequencies where we have less accuracy and we’re looking for a very small change. Similar studies have not accounted for possible false positives, which has led to the reporting of inflated rates of hearing loss among youth, said Schlauch, professor in the Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences.
One study, published in the journal Pediatrics, estimated 15 percent of 12- to 19-year-olds had hearing loss, but Schlauch’s study suggested up to two-thirds of those cases could be a result of false positives.
Schlauch and Carney’s recent study came as a result of on-going research involving the University marching band.
The two found about 15 percent of band members had hearing loss but after averaging multiple hearing tests, more than half of the apparent cases disappeared, Schlauch said. This suggested false positives and led the researchers to look into other studies.
Even moderate hearing loss can have a serious impact on education, Schlauch said, so it’s important that researchers develop accurate ways to determine when a hearing loss is present. By understanding what things are more likely to cause hearing loss, people will be better able to protect their hearing, he said.
“People have different susceptibility to hearing loss due to noise exposure, so it’s important that we identify the right causes [of hearing loss] so people can focus on prevention.”
Studies have shown hearing is generally better in the present than it was 40 years ago, which Schlauch attributed in part to greater knowledge about hearing loss.
Wearing headphones, hearing gunfire and working in noisy, industrial environments can all be causes of hearing loss, and Schlauch warned that prolonged exposure can still have negative long-term effects, even if they aren’t apparent during childhood.
“This is an important issue and I don’t want to make people think that it’s not important that they protect their hearing from intense sounds,” Schlauch said. “It’s just that I think the percentages that have been reported — what was it, one in five? — That’s a much larger number than is actually the case.”