CNN news 2010-08-23

AZUZ: Well, that sense may be getting worse, especially for you all. And as somebody who played the drums in middle and high school. I sympathize with you. There's a new study out about 12 to 19 year old. It found that the number of teens who suffer from early signs of hearing loss is going up dramatically. We want you to look at these statisticses, they're pretty surprising.

Back in 1994, around 1 in every 20 teens had some kind of hearing loss. By 2006, that number was up to 1 in every 5. That means about 6.5 million teens experienced hearing loss. So, the next question is why? What is causing this increase?

Researchers are saying that that's what they need to focus on in the futre. One of the authors of this study, though, was asked if technology might be part of the reason.

DR. JOSEF SHARGORODSKY, BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL:

Is it the iPod? Um, it's, from our study is specific, it's actually we can not say, what causes is of this increase from our data. Of course, world around us is getting louder. You can stand in a busy intersection in New York, for example, and get sound levels that are dangerous high if you're exposed to it for a prolong period of time, and you can also get it from driving a convertible on the highway. And so, of course, teenages are using headphones, are using portable music devices now that they have not been using previously. And so, that's certainly one possibility.