Amplified music and young people's hearing. Review and report of Australian findings.

We gave 944 young people (aged 16 to 20 years) pure-tone audiometry, electroacoustic impedance tests, and ear, nose and throat examination. We questioned them about their histories of exposure to occupational and recreational noise. The data do not support the view that there is wide-spread hearing loss caused by exposure to amplified music in young people under the age of 21 years. However, the accumulated exposure of some of them to noise is such that, if their recreational patterns remain the same, they are at risk of some noise-induced hearing loss by their mid-twenties. Further empirical studies are necessary to determine whether these hearing losses will eventuate.