IT MIGHT be music to your ears, but that MP3 player is trouble if the volume is turned on too loud.

Doctors are beginning to see those in their 20s and 30s with hearing problems, even though they are not exposed to the usual causes, such as noisy workplaces.

Dr Peter Lu, the chief of the ear, nose and throat (ENT) department at Changi General Hospital (CGH), said: 'We believe that young people may be having early symptoms, like ringing in the ears, but don't realise that it's a problem.'

Over time, this could lead to significant early hearing loss, way before a person hits the usual 70 to 80 age group, he warned.

'After exhausting all the possibilities, I ask them if they use their MP3 players very loudly - and often, they say yes,' Dr Lu said.

A study by the European Union's Scientific Committee recently found that 2.5 million to 10 million Europeans who listened to their players at high volumes for more than an hour daily can lose a significant amount of hearing in five years.

This is an estimated 5 to 10 per cent of all Europeans with MP3 players.

As a result of the findings, the European Commission will meet policymakers, industry players and consumers next year to discuss user precautions, technical solutions, as well as tightening existing rules on noise.

Concerns about noise-induced hearing loss have been around since 1979, with the invention of the Walkman player.

Dr Samuel Yeak, head of Tan Tock Seng Hospital's ENT department, said these fears are heightened in the era of the MP3 player because of the huge number of songs that can be stored and played back over prolonged periods.

Agreeing, CGH senior audiologist Tan Boon Hai noted that MP3 players are also much more affordable now - starting under $50. Students may not know they are losing their hearing as 'their classmates may not mind speaking louder, or repeating their words a few times', he said.

He noted that many people turn up their music to drown out the background noise from trains or the street - which alone may be about 85 decibels or louder.

Worldwide safety standards put 85 decibels at eight hours a day as the safe limit of noise exposure.

So far, there have not been any conclusive studies done here, but CGH is looking at studying young people's listening habits and corresponding hearing levels.

At Singapore General Hospital, Associate Professor Low Wong-Kein, who is director of the Centre for Hearing and Ear Implants, intends to start a laboratory here within the next two years to study what medication can prevent cells in the ear from rupturing due to loud sounds.

'One reason is...the ageing population. The other is that younger people are being exposed to excessively loud noises due to their leisure activities,' he said.

Young people interviewed say it is normal to turn up the volume as 'you can hear the lyrics more clearly', as student Lim Yi Xian, 18, put it.

Another student, Choo Kuan Seng, 16, added that some genres of music may be more enjoyable at a higher volume.

'Like punk music - nobody listens to it softly,' he said.

serl@sph.com.sg

This story was first published in The Straits Times on 29 October 2008.

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