MP3 players are as fun as they are dangerous, a study by the EU Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) revealed. The regular listeners should be particularly aware, since 5 to 10 percent of them (2.5 to 10 million people) risk permanent hearing loss.

Listening to more than one hour per day each week at high volume (over 89 dB) for 5 years increases their chance to become part of that 5 to 10 percent. An European safety standard reduced the noise level of personal music players at 100 dB, however, the longer the exposure, the higher the risk to suffer from hearing problems.

According to EU Consumer Affairs Commissioner Meglena Kuneva, young people are especially exposed to this risk, and many of them seem unaware of the permanent damaging to their hearing that personal music players and mobile phones can give birth to.

Over the last few years, more and more young people began listening to music players, and as a proof of that stand the incredible sales figures in the tech industry. Approximately 124 to 165 million MP3 players have been sold in the past four years, EU concluded.

Listening to music may be relaxing, but when it surpasses a certain volume, it can have irreversible effects over listeners. The problem is that music players today are able to reproduce music at incredible high volumes, and as you listen, you also tend to turn the volume higher and higher.

This tendency is especially available among young people, and worries health authorities, who warned that precautionary measures can and should be taken. Consumers should be aware that it’s safer to listen to music at lower volumes. Furthermore, they should also shorten the periods of listening to their personal music players for the sake of their own health.