Expert warns earphones are causing deafness in young people

Audiologist John Barnwell had some stark insights to share on Newstalk Breakfast today, April 2.

According to Mr Barnwell, a significant number of young people are suffering from hearing loss and he told the show he has no doubt why this is happening.

He explained: "There's a lot more young people coming in with earphones, the headphones.

"They're constantly wearing them a lot longer, it's starting to cause hearing loss."

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According to the Irish Association of Hearing Aid Audiologists, one-in-twelve Irish adults are suffering from permanent hearing loss. 

In those over the age of 70, this figure increases to 50% however, it is also becoming increasingly common among young people.

Mr Barnwell said he believes young people are largely unaware of the risks that come from loud noise. 

He said: "I don’t think they are, no. Not really. 

“They just listen to music loudly, don’t they? They listen to everything loud.” 

He continued: “People don’t realise the noise, the decibels in sound that’s causing the trouble."

Joining Mr Barnwell on the programme this morning, Dr Eoin King of University of Galway echoed the audiologist's concerns and added that long-term exposure to noise can trigger a “wide array of problems”. 

He said: “Yes, it can affect your hearing but that’s really only in the extreme cases.

“We’d be more worried about cardiovascular problems, sleep disturbance - and disturbance can lead to a cascade of problems like increased stress, immune deficiencies, things like that."

Dr King also highlighted concerns about the cognitive development of children as studies show that children who grow up in noisy environments do not perform as well in reading tests as other children.

Dr King also believes that Ireland is “probably a little bit behind” in terms of planning for noise.

He said: “There’s an awful lot of legislation, an awful lot of planning around air pollution. 

“Noise would be somewhat behind that; so, there’s an awful lot more that should be done. 

“We really do need more guidance, more stringent legislation and, really, we just need the planning system and we need the authorities responsible to catch up.”

As it stands, under the Planning and Development Act 2024, local authorities can grant planning permission under the condition that measures are taken to limit or prevent the "emission of any noise or vibration from any structure or site…that might give reasonable cause for annoyance either to persons in any premises in the neighbourhood".