长期音乐狂欢 耳朵危害大

大家都知道狂吃海喝对身体不好，可曾料到置身于狂欢的音乐中也会使耳朵“很受伤”？澳大利亚科学家研究发现许多长期处于狂欢音乐的人都患有耳部疾病，有的甚至还会永久失聪。

Australian researchers found that many music lovers who often expose themselves to so-called 'binge listening' may have serious hearing problems.

Drummer Lucas Dorrell regularly played in noisy pubs and clubs while he was in college. He thought his hearing was fine, but a simple test has shown otherwise.

"Apparently the drumming has caused a little bit of (damage). It's not so bad yet, but my hearing could get progressively worse if I was to keep drumming, so it was interesting to find out."

Researchers from Australia's National Acoustic Laboratories, a government body, have been investigating the impact of noise levels on young Australians' hearing. They measured the noise in a range of pubs and clubs.

Professor Harvey Dillon from the National Acoustic Laboratories says young people tend to 'binge' on noise levels on a night out, exposing themselves to an overdose of loud volume.

"When we put dosimeters on people's lapels to measure it we found that their noise levels most days was really low, really very safe. And then they'd have a big night out, and on that big night out they'd get maybe three weeks' worth of noise exposure in one night. It's like a binge, so we've called that binge listening."

Researchers found noise in the pubs and clubs tested ranged from 91 to 106 decibels(分贝).

Noise at 100 decibels can cause damage after 15 minutes, while noise at 94 decibels can cause damage after an hour.

Dance parties, night clubs and mp3 players were found to be the main sources of sound exposure.

Professor Dillon says it's impossible for individuals to notice the permanent hearing damage caused by loud music.

"When you go out and you have a big hit of noise on one night, two things happen. You get a temporary hearing loss, and you hear that ringing in your ear, everything gets a bit quiet, but that goes away and you think 'fine, no problems'. But then what you don't realize is there's a small amount of permanent hearing loss occurring at the same time. It's very small, you never notice it, but each time you go out there's a little bit more, a little bit more, and that accumulates."

Dorrell admits his mother wanted him to wear ear plugs while he was performing, but that was never going to happen.

He says young people don't normally worry about their hearing.

"Say in your 20's, you don't really give your hearing a second thought, you just pretty much take that for granted."

Over one third of young Australians don't realize that hearing loss in irreversible, according to the National Acoustic Laboratories.

They're hoping party-goers will take notice of the research about dangerous noise levels, and hear the warnings while they still can.