iPods a Major Cause of Hearing Loss?

Jeff Hurst, 24, and Gianni Lee, 19, love their music so much they listen to it on their iPods for hours - maybe too many hours.

Hearing experts wonder whether the frequent use of these devices, particularly with the inserts that sit within the ear, are contributing to noise-induced hearing loss.

"The incidence of hearing loss is underappreciated," said Thomas Willcox, associate professor in otolaryngology at Thomas Jefferson University. "We're going to have a boom of this population because of the increased exposures that previous generations haven't had." About 12 percent of children and teens in the country - more than 5 million - have noise-induced hearing loss. Hearing loss in general has doubled in the United States in the last 30 years.
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