Millions of youngsters across Europe could suffer permanent hearing loss after five years if they listen to MP3 players at too high a volume for more than five hours a week, EU scientists warned Monday.
 
Millions of youngsters across Europe could suffer permanent hearing loss after five years if they listen to MP3 players at too high a volume for more than five hours a week, EU scientists warned Monday.

The scientists' study, requested by the European Commission, attacked the concept of "leisure noise," saying children and teenagers should be protected from increasingly high sound levels -- with loud mobile phones also coming in for criticism.

"There has been increasing concern about exposure from the new generation of personal music players which can reproduce sounds at very high volumes without loss of quality," the Commission, the EU's executive arm, said in a statement.

"Risk for hearing damage depends on sound level and exposure time," it said. More and more young people were exposed to the significant threat that leisure noise posed to hearing, it said.

Commission experts estimate that between 50 and 100 million people listen to portable music players on a daily basis.

If they listened for only five hours a week at more than 89 decibels, they would already exceed EU limits for noise allowed in the workplace, they said. But if they listened for longer periods, they risked permanent hearing loss after five years.

The scientists calculated the number of people in that risk category at between five and 10 percent of listeners, meaning up to 10 million people in the European Union.

Sales of personal music players have soared in EU countries in recent years, particularly of MP3 players.

Commission experts estimate unit sales between 184 and 246 million for all portable audio devices just over the last four years, of which MP3 players range between 124 and 165 million.

Mobile phones used at excessive volume also came under fire from Meglena Kuneva, the EU's consumer affairs commissioner.

"I am concerned that so many young people ... who are frequent users of personal music players and mobile phones at high acoustic levels, may be unknowingly damaging their hearing irrevocably," she said in the statement.

歐盟科學家于本周一向歐洲數百萬年輕的MP3使用者發出警告，如果他們以很高的音量每周聽MP3超過五個小時，五年后可能會永久失聰。

歐洲委員會委托開展的此項研究矛頭直指時下的“休閑噪音”，并指出青少年尤其要遠離過高音量。同時，手機噪音也成為被抨擊的對象。

歐盟執行機構歐洲委員會在一份聲明中表示：“新一代的音樂播放器在以很高音量播放音樂的情況下仍能夠保證聲音不失真，而這所引發的聽覺安全問題已受到越來越多的關注。”

聲明稱：“聽力損害威脅主要取決聽音樂時的音量大小和使用時間”。如今，越來越多的年輕人面臨‘休閑噪音’對聽覺造成的嚴重威脅。

據歐洲委員會的專家估計，歐洲每天有5000萬至1億人使用便攜式音樂播放器。

專家指出，即使他們每周只聽5個小時MP3，音量高于89分貝，那就已經超過了歐盟的“工作場合噪音最高標準”。而如果聽得時間更長，那么五年之后就可能會永久喪失聽力。

科學家統計，目前歐盟各國有5%至10%的MP3使用者面臨此問題，總人數多達1000萬。

近年來，歐盟各國的個人音樂播放器銷量迅速增長，尤其是MP3。

歐洲委員會的專家估計，過去四年，歐盟各國各種音樂播放設備的總銷量在1.84億至2.46億之間，其中MP3的銷量達到了1.24億至1.65億。

歐盟消費者事務委員會委員瑪格麗娜•庫內娃則呼吁人們關注手機鈴聲帶來的噪音危害。

她在聲明中表示：“這么多的年輕人沉迷于音樂播放器和手機帶來的超強感音樂中，我擔心他們會在不知不覺中損害了聽力，而且無法挽回。”