TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A report by the World Health Organization (WHO) suggests people should listen to music for no more than one hour a day to protect their hearing. The report also says that 1.1 billion teenagers and young adults are at risk of permanently damaging their hearing by listening to "too much, too loudly".
Concerts, audio players and bars are considered as a ‘serious threat’ for people’s hearing. WHO predicts around 43 million people aged between 12 and 35 have hearing loss and the number continue to increase.
"While it is important to keep the volume down, limiting the use of personal audio devices to less than one hour a day would do much to reduce noise exposure,” the report saays as quoted by BBC.
On the other hand, Dr Etienne Krug, WHO's director for injury prevention said : "That's a rough recommendation, it is not by the minute, to give an idea to those spending 10 hours a day listening to an mp3-player.”
Adding: "But even an hour can be too much if the volume is too loud."
The World Health Organization recommends keeping the volume to 60% of the maximum as a good rule of thumb. It also suggests the use of noise-cancelling headphones to hear music more clearly without turning up the volume.
"We do realise this is a bit of a struggle, like alcohol consumption, so many risk factors linked to pleasure are not easy to change, but we have to make people aware," Dr Krug added.
But as well as calling for personal responsibility, the WHO says governments and manufacturers have a responsibility. For example, clubs should provide chill-out rooms and give out free ear plugs, headphone manufacturers should set limits on the volume, and governments need to adopt stricter laws.
BBC INDONESIA