Young at risk from stereos

Personal stereos should carry government health warnings about the dangers of hearing loss, an expert said yesterday.

Geoff Riches, an audiologist, said there was widespread ignorance about the damage caused by listening to loud music on headphones. "There is a very real danger that the young people of today will find that in 20 or 30 years' time they are suffering quite profound hearing loss.".

In France, where the government is preparing to limit volume on personal stereos to 100 decibels, a study of 2,268 secondary school pupils found that about 20 per cent had impaired hearing.