Professional musicians, for instance, are almost four times as likely to develop NIHL than the general public. People who work in certain fields are more vulnerable to NIHL than others. In a study on Toronto’s subway system, 20% of intermittent bursts of impulse noises were greater than 114 dB. New York City has one of the largest and oldest subway systems in the world where 91% of commuters exceed the recommended levels of noise exposure annually. The sound levels of some stations exceed the threshold for which occupational hearing protection is legally required. BBC News found that London’s transit systems can get as loud as 110 dB, which is louder than a nearby helicopter taking off. Most major cities around the world have transit systems that put commuters in contact with sounds at 110 dB. A device playing at maximum volume (105 dB) is dangerous, so exposure to sounds at 100 dB for more than 15 minutes is highly discouraged. Already, an estimated 12.5% of young people ages of 6 to 19 have hearing loss as a result of using earbuds or headphones at a high volume.
Over 1.1 billion young adults ages 12 to 35-an age group that frequently uses headphones to listen to music-are at risk. NIHL is the only type of hearing loss that is completely preventable, yet billions of individuals endanger themselves daily.