{"id":19277,"date":"2021-10-18T10:48:57","date_gmt":"2021-10-18T15:48:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepapergown.zocdoc.com\/?p=19277"},"modified":"2023-03-06T11:54:07","modified_gmt":"2023-03-06T16:54:07","slug":"how-to-protect-your-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/healthcare-trends\/how-to-protect-your-hearing\/","title":{"rendered":"Hearing Loss Is No Longer Just a Senior Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

Walk around a big city during rush hour and you’ll see an army of people sporting large, cushiony headsets and delicate ear buds. This trend is<\/span> contributing to a new and growing problem: hearing loss in young people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While many attribute hearing loss to aging, it’s becoming more and more common among millennials and members of Gen Z. Listening to music, podcasts, audiobooks or whatever you\u2019re into through headphones for hours, with no limits on volume, can really damage your hearing in ways people never experienced decades ago.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Studies show that about <\/span>10 percent of millennials and 17 percent of members of Gen Z<\/span><\/a> have some level of hearing loss caused by excessive headphone usage or loud environments, like concerts or fall football games. Just this spring, the World Health Organization<\/a> warned more than 1 billion young people worldwide are at risk of hearing loss. The WHO predicted one in every ten people will have damaged hearing by 2050.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUnsurprisingly, millennials and Generation Z have been shaped by the unprecedented amount of technological innovation and the wide availability of information and entertainment in the world today,\u201d says Dr. Najia Shaikh<\/a>, founder and medical director at One Skin Clinic in London.<\/p>\n

As hearing loss becomes more and more common in young patients, healthcare providers are seeking institutional support for earlier annual hearing screenings \u2014 and spreading awareness about how young people can protect their hearing sooner rather than later.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The health of your hearing<\/h3>\n

While headphones are a huge culprit, a significant number of other things can damage your hearing. These include bacterial and viral infections like measles, mumps or meningitis, ear trauma and, surprisingly, <\/span>more than 200 different medications.<\/span><\/a> A family history of ear problems can also predispose someone to issues with their hearing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Your ears’ abilities also simply worsen as you age. Tiny hair cells around your inner ear pick up sound waves and transport them to your brain. Over time, cumulative exposure to the sounds you experience damages these tiny hair cells. That\u2019s when hearing loss occurs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Before the rise of headphones and other devices, this deterioration used to happen a lot more gradually. But now, if you wear <\/span>headphones<\/span><\/a> too often or listen to sounds at too high a volume, you\u2019re damaging these tiny hair cells at a much quicker rate. <\/span><\/p>\n

Take this blogger’s experience<\/a> as an example. After years of headphone use, he started to experience high-pitched ringing in his ears and was later diagnosed with tinnitus, a hearing condition that impacts roughly 15 million Americans.\u00a0 <\/a><\/span>We\u2019re even starting to see the effects of this rise in technology on kids as young as 6. The CDC says an estimated <\/span>12.5 percent of children and adolescents<\/span><\/a> between the ages of 6 and 19 have already incurred permanent hearing damage from excessive noise exposure.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There are two key types of hearing loss. Some people experience a combination of the two.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n