BBC - Newsbeat - MP3s 'to blame' for hearing loss

Image by pvera via FlickrBBC - Newsbeat - MP3s 'to blame' for hearing loss: "Up to six and a half million teenagers in America struggle to hear whispered conversations or leaves rustling in the wind."

I blame walkmans, Iron Maiden and working in loud NOCs with industrial-sized HVACs and no hearing protection. I know this because we were marked as high risk for hearing loss while I was a chairborne ranger in the Army, and we were forced to have hearing tests much more often than other soldiers. After the first few years they noticed gaps in my hearing frequency response charts, I bet those match the frequency for the dull roar of these air conditioner units.

What makes that partial loss annoying is that it makes it difficult to hear dialog in movies unless using a multi-channel system that lets you separate a center voice channel that can be boosted without increasing the overall loudness of the movie.

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