At first to the ear The warble was low, and full and clear. But anon her awful jubilant voice…
One in five teenagers in America can’t hear rustles or whispers, according to a study published in August in The Journal of the American Medical Association.
These teenagers exhibit what’s known as slight hearing loss, which means they often can’t make out consonants like T’s or K’s, or the plinking of raindrops. The word “talk” can sound like “aw.”
The number of teenagers with hearing loss — from slight to severe — has jumped 33 percent since 1994.
Many researchers attribute this widespread hearing loss to exposure to sound played loudly and regularly through headphones. (Earbuds, in particular, don’t cancel as much noise from outside as do headphones that rest on or around the ear, so earbud users typically listen at higher volume to drown out interference.)
