Turn down your iPods

A quarter of all iPod owners are permanently damaging their hearing by listening to the music on them too loudly, a major study has found.

It says that the popularity of the iPod and other MP3 players could lead to an explosion in the number of people with hearing problems.

The National Acoustic Laboratories report, unveiled by the Australian government, found up to a quarter of people will have hearing problems from listening to their iPods at "excessive and damaging" levels.

The research predicts rising levels of tinnitus — ringing in the ears — and loss of hearing because people cannot listen "responsibly".

Tinnitus and noise-induced hearing loss occur when the delicate hairy nerve cells that line the inner ear suffer repeated trauma from the vibrations caused by loud sound. Ringing and buzzing in the ears are the first signs.

Earlier this year British experts sounded a similar warning. However, this is the first clinical study into the problem.

Consistent exposure to loud noise is the most common cause of hearing damage.

Andrew Reid, head of audiology at the Royal United Hospital in Bristol, said: "This is a big problem for young people and there is a real risk that prolonged listening could lead to permanent hearing damage."

Australia's minister for ageing, Julie Bishop, said: "Listening to music at high sound levels for hours a day means that thousands of Australia's younger people are on a one-way street towards tinnitus and loss of hearing in later life.

The risk would be reduced significantly if people limited their listening at high volume to less than an hour a day. But the safest thing is to simply turn it down.

"If the music is too loud for people to converse with you, it is loud enough to cause hearing loss."

Up to 20 per cent of Australian over-15s already have some degree of hearing difficulty.

• Do not listen to your player for more than an hour each day.
• Don't turn up the player to drown out background noise.
• Never listen at full volume.
• Consider buying a pair of in-ear noise blocking headphones.

— Evening Standard