According to experts, this is due to the high noise level in cities and the frequent use of headphones.
Scientists at the Pavlov Institute of Physiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences have noted a tendency towards a decrease in the sensitivity of hearing in young people to low frequencies due to the high noise level in cities and the constant use of headphones for listening to music. Tatiana Moshonkina, deputy director of the institute, told TASS that the problem was identified in more than half of the 150 students examined at the institute in recent years.
“At our institute, a long-term study is being conducted, the results of which have shown that, in addition to the problem with the perception of high frequencies by older people, we are faced with a new trend of hearing impairment at low (previously the most age-resistant) frequencies among young people. It was revealed in 58% of 150 students of St. Petersburg universities examined over the past 5 years. At the same time, traditional disorders of sensitivity to high frequencies are also becoming younger, and they are increasingly being diagnosed already in thirty-year-olds,”said Moshonkina.
Researchers associate this result with high noise levels in large cities and with excessive [loud and long] listening to music with headphones. As a member of the research group Elena Ogorodnikova explained to TASS, the observations were carried out over the past five years.
In addition to a decrease in sensitivity to low frequencies, other tendencies for hearing impairment among young people were noted: a deterioration in rhythm perception, a decrease in the ability to understand speech in noise and skills in sound orientation in space. According to her, now scientists are turning to audiologists to expand research on this problem.
At the moment, experts declare the need to reduce the background noise and promote hearing conservation through the promotion of knowledge about the dangers of noise, loud rhythmic music and the use of headphones in the "non-stop" mode.