Press Interpreter

03/04/06 -- More and more people are spending their leisure time listening to MP3s. They should listen with more care - Yesterday, Beijing Tong Ren hospital aural specialists reported to the media that clinical research has proven that listening to portable audio devices too much can cause hearing loss.

Tong Ren Hospital Clinical Hearing Center Director Zhang Hua told journalists that a lot of young people suffer from tinnitus (a ringing of the ears) that can be directly tied to their overuse of personal listening devices. According to Zhang, many young people wear headphones to listen to music or English language study materials. Many wear them for up to a day at time, especially in subways or other noisy, crowded environments. Over time, the listener can begin to suffer from "noise deafness."
Generally speaking, the type of listening ability most impacted by the disease are the ability to distinguish high frequency sounds from middle frequency sounds. So, "noise deafness" barely impacts hearing in an everyday context and is therefore hard to diagnose in its early stages. Usually the only symptom is a ringing of the ears.

But "noise deafness" - once it appears - is irreversible. Even if the sufferer removes himself from the noisy environment (i.e., stops listening to MP3s all day) his hearing will continue to get worse. Some suffers will therefore begin losing their hearing in their 40s or 50s, long before people normally begin to lose it due to old age.

There is currently no cure for "noise deafness"; the only effective cure is prevention. In Zhang's opinion, young people should not listen to MP3s for more than an hour at a time or for more than 8 hours a day. In addition, he recommends setting the volume at 60% or less of the maximum volume.

Currently, there are 20,570,000 people in China who have hearing disabilities; among them are 200,000 children. The Beijing Public Hygeine Bureau's statistics show that there are 2,000,000 with hearing or language disabilities. There are more people in
Beijing with this type of disability than any other type of disability. According to a survey, more than 30% of the elderly have obstructed hearing and need therapy, aid, or assistance. Among local 0-6 year olds, about 1% suffer from some form of deafness, but every year the percentage is increasing.

Photo Caption: Yesterday was "World Love Your Ears Day." Aural specialists reminded the public---[Excessive MP3 listening can cause hearing loss.] Photo here.

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By Zhao Xin Pei

--Translated by Aaron Lichtig

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