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.

欧盟科学家于本周一向欧洲数百万年轻的MP3使用者发出警告，如果他们以很高的音量每周听MP3超过五个小时，五年后可能会永久失聪。

欧洲委员会委托开展的此项研究矛头直指时下的“休闲噪音”，并指出青少年尤其要远离过高音量。同时，手机噪音也成为被抨击的对象。

欧盟执行机构欧洲委员会在一份声明中表示：“新一代的音乐播放器在以很高音量播放音乐的情况下仍能够保证声音不失真，而这所引发的听觉安全问题已受到越来越多的关注。”

声明称：“听力损害威胁主要取决听音乐时的音量大小和使用时间”。如今，越来越多的年轻人面临‘休闲噪音’对听觉造成的严重威胁。

据欧洲委员会的专家估计，欧洲每天有5000万至1亿人使用便携式音乐播放器。

专家指出，即使他们每周只听5个小时MP3，音量高于89分贝，那就已经超过了欧盟的“工作场合噪音最高标准”。而如果听得时间更长，那么五年之后就可能会永久丧失听力。

科学家统计，目前欧盟各国有5%至10%的MP3使用者面临此问题，总人数多达1000万。

近年来，欧盟各国的个人音乐播放器销量迅速增长，尤其是MP3。

欧洲委员会的专家估计，过去四年，欧盟各国各种音乐播放设备的总销量在1.84亿至2.46亿之间，其中MP3的销量达到了1.24亿至1.65亿。

欧盟消费者事务委员会委员玛格丽娜•库内娃则呼吁人们关注手机铃声带来的噪音危害。

她在声明中表示：“这么多的年轻人沉迷于音乐播放器和手机带来的超强感音乐中，我担心他们会在不知不觉中损害了听力，而且无法挽回。”