Hearing Loss Rising Among Teen Girls

Over the last two decades hearing loss due to "recreational" noise exposure such as blaring club music has risen among adolescent girls, and now approaches levels previously seen only among adolescent boys, a new study suggests.

And teens as a whole are increasingly exposed to loud noises that could place their long-term auditory health in jeopardy, the researchers added.

"In the '80s and early '90s young men experienced this kind of hearing damage in greater numbers, probably as a reflection . . . of what young men and young women have traditionally done for work and fun," noted study lead author Elisabeth Henderson, an M.D.-candidate in Harvard Medical School's School of Public Health in Boston.

"[This] means that boys have generally been faced with a greater degree of risk in the form of occupational noise exposure, fire alarms, lawn mowers, that kind of thing," she said. "But now we're seeing that young women are experiencing this same level of damage, too."

Henderson and her colleagues report their findings in the Dec. 27 online edition of Pediatrics.

Source: U.S. News & World Report
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/childrens-health/articles/2010/12/28/hearing-loss-rising-among-teen-girls-study-finds.html