One in four festivalgoers ends up with permanent hearing impairment. One out of five Flemish youngsters suffers from hearing impairment caused by excessively loud music. Furthermore, half of all youngsters admit having permanent hearing impairment. Worrying statistics, one could say.

Listening frequently to loud music, as played at festivals, concerts, in discotheques or on mp3 players, is especially the main cause of hearing impairness among youngsters nowadays. Compared with the seventies, the amount of hard of hearing youngsters between 18 and 25 years old has risen by 18 percent.

Any noise over 90 decibels may be responsible for hearing impairness. For this reason, festivals are deadly for healthy ears, since the music volume can easily reach 110-120 decibels. A law passed in 1977 stipulates that electronically amplified music must not exceed 90 decibels, but it makes an exception for festivals: the limit for festivals goes up to the harmful figure of 100 decibels. Nevertheless, even that limit is trampled upon.

But why must we always go all out on volume? Because we can and because it gives us a kick. In olden days, record players and radios started crackling when the volume was raised too high. This is no longer the case with modern sound equipments; now it's even possible to suffer from hearing impairness indoors.

LET'S GET LOUD

Apart from anything else, loud music is just fun. Music over 90 decibels has an effect on the organ of balance that results in certain chemicals being released. The original purpose was to make people instinctively run away from loud noises. These days, however, it makes us dance almost automatically, making us feel good. Nonetheless, such feeling is not exclusively positive. Medical research has shown for the first time a link existing between the heart's and blood vessel's vibrating along to low frequencies and a higher risk of cardiovascular failure.

Youngsters can't be bothered. They'll grab a festival and take the risk of suffering from hearing impairness. Tomas Thys, a 22-year-old journalism student, attends a concert at least every month. "I usually go to metal concerts; the loudest ones, then", he says. Only this year did he started protecting his ears by using earplugs. "I started using them, mainly because my ears were giving me trouble when the volume was too loud." Besides, he admits that "warnings about permanent hearing impairness played their role as well".

PLUG THEM IN

Tomas is therefore aware of the risks. Yet, he won't always take measures to protect himself. He admits that ear plugs help – "I've not had a ringing in my ears after a concert since then" – but "the drawback is that I can't hear the music that well". For Tomas, this is a fact that trumps the health of his ears. "That's why I'm pretty picky. I won't take ear plugs to a really good concert, because I want to fully enjoy the music of the band." Ear plugs take away some of the pleasure of listening to music, in the opinion of our metal enthusiast. "You don't hear everything anymore. Everything remains a bit shallow. Certain songs lose their details quickly." "I'd still go even if I knew that concerts were harmful, especially when a good band is performing. I think it's all probably a bit overdone", he concludes. However, it is not. Without protection, the ears are damaged within minutes at such concerts. It's a myth that hearing impairness is only temporary. Once damaged, ears hardly recover, if at all. The fragile hairs in the inner ear, which catch sound, cannot recover themselves after a sound overload. Irreversible hearing impairness is the result: incoming sound vibrations are no longer or incompletely transmitted into electrical signals perceive as sound by the nerves.

It is still to be seen how many youngsters will, by the end of the summer, have joined the ranks of the D Generation – Deaf Generation.