Seven percent of studied nine-year-olds have tinnitus. Those are the findings of the first scientific investigation into the effects of young people’s mp3-usage.

“The results are unnerving,” says Kim Kähäri, lecturer at Örebro University in Sweden, who are behind the study.

In the study, two groups of Swedes were followed. One group consisted of 60 nine-year-olds, while the other consisted of just as many 16-55-year olds. Out of the group of 60 children, seven percent had constant tinnitus – because of the strain on their ears.

“It is very clear that tinnitus can come from the noise we are surrounded with in our free time and from mp3-players,” says Kim Kähäri.

In the second group of 16-55-year-olds more than every sixth had tinnitus and almost every tenth suffered from an over-sensitivity to sound. The study also shows, that on average the young listen to music 104 minutes each day. Some up to seven hours per day.

“We can see, that those who listen for longer periods of time, often have their music turned right up,” said Kim Kähäri. “They therefore run the risk of hearing impairment and tinnitus.”

Source: www.dn.se