"Turn that music down, it'll damage your ear drums!" my mum used to shout at my brother and I. But back when we were 12, the monotony of long journeys was much improved by blasting out our music on CD Walkmans.
Nowadays, I can comprehend the risks of playing music too loud through headphones, especially the inner-ear type, so I try to keep it to a reasonable level. However in all honesty, who wants to listen to their favourite tracks half heartedly? No, we turn the volume up to block out noise from others or traffic. But as we're cranking up the volume, we're also increasing the risk of developing hearing problems in the future.
Scientists taking part in an EU study have warned that people listening to music at a high volume through headphones for more than one hour per day, over five years, risk losing their hearing.
How many people do you see on the bus, tube
, walking, jogging, in the gym listening to their MP3 players? Up to 10 million people, including children and adolescents across Europe could be putting themselves at risk because they play their music above 80 decibels.
Meglena Kuneva, EU Consumer Affairs Commissioner says, "I am concerned that so many young people, in particular, who are frequent users of personal music players and mobile phones at high acoustic levels, may be unknowingly damaging their hearing irrevocably".
The European Commission will be looking at making technical improvements and changing EU safety standards that could minimise the risk of hearing damage.
But anyway, let's not take this news as a negative. Chuck the headphones, because I reckon that this gives us all the more reason to play our music on huge speakers, with an excellent bass for all to hear; the way it should be!
What do you think? Let us know!