Teen Hearing Loss

Study: One in five teens suffers slight hearing loss.
ABC World News (8/17, story 7, 0:25, Stephanopoulos) reported, "There are some troubling findings tonight in a new study of American teenagers. Researchers found nearly one in five teens are suffering from hearing loss."
CBS Evening News (8/17, story 8, 2:25, Hill) reported that the study found "6.5 million Americans between the ages of 12 and 19 suffer from hearing loss." That's "up more than 30% from just the early 1990s."
On NBC Nightly News (8/17, story 6, 2:15, Williams), chief science correspondent Robert Bazell indicated that portable music devices may play a role in the hearing loss, saying, "At full volume, an iPod or other mp3 player gives off 105 decibels. That's equivalent to putting your ear next to a power lawn mower or attending a rock concert."
USA Today (8/18, Szabo) reports that hearing loss in American teenagers increased "31% since the mid-'90s," according to a study published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. About "one in 20 have 'mild or worsening' hearing loss, which can make them struggle to follow conversations or teachers at school," USA Today adds.
The Los Angeles Times (8/18, Maugh) reports that the study "eliminated ear infections and exposure to loud noises in the environment as causes for the hearing loss," but "could not identify a specific cause." A recent Australian study, however, "found a 70% increased risk of hearing loss associated with the use of headphones to listen to portable music," and "many experts suspect they are the primary cause of hearing loss in teens."
Bloomberg News (8/18, Ostrow) reports the study found "hearing loss of 25 decibels or more -- enough that the children were often aware of the deficit -- increased to 5.3 percent of the sample, from 3.5 percent in the earlier group."
The Washington Post (8/17, Stein) "The Checkup" blog reported that although "the majority of hearing loss was slight," the "prevalence of mild or worse hearing loss increased 77 percent."
The AP (8/18, Johnson), the Boston Globe (8/18, Weintraub), and the San Francisco Chronicle (8/18, A1, Allday) also cover the story, as did NPR (8/17) in its "All Things Considered" program.