79% Of young people unaware personal-music volume to be capped

To mark the launch of National Tinnitus Awareness Week music lovers will be invited to test the volume of their personal music players in Birmingham today, to spread the message that listening to loud music can lead to developing the condition.

Charity Action on Hearing Loss (formally RNID) has revealed that as many as 79% of young people are unaware that volume limits of 85 decibels are being applied to all new personal music players in the EU and 49% said they would override any volume limit.

Tinnitus is a medical term used to descrive the perception of noise either in one ear, both ears or in the head, when in fact there is no corresponding external sound.

So what does Tinnitus sound like? The sounds can vary from person to person and they include:

• Buzzing

• Whistling

• Humming

• Whooshing

• Hissing

An estimated 10% of adults in the UK have mild tinnitus. That’s six million people. Around 1% of adults (about 600,000 people) in the UK have tinnitus that affects their quality of life.

There are two types of tinnitus:

• Subjective tinnitus, this is the most common type where the sounds are only heard by the person who has tinnitus. This type is usually linked to problems affecting the hearing pathway.

• Objective tinnitus, in a few rare cases the tinnitus sounds can be heard by other people too, such as a doctors listening with a stethoscope placed near to the ear. This type is usually caused by a physical problem that produces sound, such as the narrowing of blood vessels in the ear.

To find out more about what can cause tinnitus see the Charity Action on Hearing Loss website.

National Tinnitus Awareness Week runs until the 10th February.

Between 4 –and 10 February we will be holding events across the UK to highlight the effect that tinnitus has on people’s lives and how listening to Loud Music can lead to tinnitus and hearing loss.