Hearing loss among youth caused by loud noises like headphones or live music concerts is not as prevalent as previous research suggests, according to a new study by University of Minnesota researchers.
The study comes to a different conclusion than a similar one published in the Journal of the American Medical Association last month. The JAMA study estimated 19.5 percent of 12- to 19-year-olds in the United States have some sort of hearing loss.
The University study, led by researchers Bert Schlauch and Edward Carney, found that much of the reported hearing loss in the JAMA study and others could be attributed to false positives during research.
”The methods we use are really good for identifying significant hearing losses,” Schlauch said. “This early evidence of a hearing loss due to noise exposure involves high frequencies where we have less accuracy and we’re looking for a very small change.
Similar studies have not accounted for possible false positives, which has led to the reporting of inflated rates of hearing loss among youth, said Schlauch, professor in the Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences.
One study, published in the journal Pediatrics, estimated 15 percent of 12- to 19-year-olds had hearing loss, but Schlauch’s study suggested up to two-thirds of those cases could be a result of false positives.
Schlauch and Carney’s recent study came as a result of on-going research involving the University marching band.
Read the full story at the Minnesota Daily.
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