August 17, 2010

Hearing Loss on the Rise in US Teenagers

JAMA published research showing a rise in hearing loss among US teenagers from 15% between 1988-1994 (2928 teens) to 20% from 2005-2006 (1771 teens). The study was a cross-sectional analyses of US representative demographic and audiometric data.

No one quite knows exactly why this has happened... but my guess is the increasing prevalence of portable music players where loud music can cause hearing damage.

Read a story on this in Reuters here.

Reference:
Change in Prevalence of Hearing Loss in US Adolescents. JAMA. 2010;304(7):772-778. doi:10.1001/jama.2010.1124
Fauquier blog
Fauquier ENT

Dr. Christopher Chang is a private practice otolaryngology, head & neck surgeon specializing in the treatment of problems related to the ear, nose, and throat. Located in Warrenton, VA about 45 minutes west of Washington DC, he also provides inhalant allergy testing/treatment, hearing tests, and dispenses hearing aids.

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