Health experts in Shanghai and Guangzhou warn that more young people face the risk of hearing loss due to excessive use of MP3s and Walkmans.

A survey of 1,800 young people by the Shanghai hearing science center showed that about 14 of them are suffering from loss of hearing.

Also, some primary school students are suffering from buzzing in their ears, a problem that afflicts only adults.

According to Wu Hao, a doctor at Shanghai Children's Medical Center, hearing damage among teenagers was mainly caused by drugs 20 years ago. Hearing loss from over-exposure to noise happened mainly among workers in very noisy environments.

"Hearing loss from noise among teenagers was hardly seen at that time," he said. "Now it has become the most important reason for hearing loss among school students, while drug-caused hearing damage is rarely seen now, as people learn more about side effects of some medicines."

Chi Fanglu, professor at the Ear Nose and Throat Hospital of Fudan University warned that listening to portable music players for long hours could result in more youngsters suffering hearing loss.

"I could hardly do without my Ipod when I bought it," Wu Manqiao, a 24-year-old woman, said.

Exposed to noise above 90 decibels for two weeks consecutively could result in total deafness, Wang Zhengmin, another professor from the same hospital warned.

He said that young people who wear earplugs listening to MP3s or other portable music players face the risk of total deafness 30 years earlier than their parents' generation.

Many people turn up the volume on their portable players in public places. If it is more than 105 decibels it could cause permanent damage to hearing.

Experts suggest that people should not listen to a portable music player for more than an hour each day, and when they do, they should set the volume no more than 60 percent of its maximum.

In Guangzhou, the capital city of south China's Guangdong Province, the number of people who have hearing problems exceeds 140,000, accounting for 25 percent of the total number of people suffering from other ailments.

A hospital there recently conducted a survey among college students in the city and found that one-third of them have developed hearing problems.

(China Daily March 8, 2007)