BREITBART.COM - Just The News: "Researchers fear the growing popularity of portable music players and other items that attach directly to the ears _ including cell phones _ is contributing to hearing loss in younger people.
'It's a different level of use than we've seen in the past,' says Robert Novak, director of clinical education in audiology at Purdue University in Indiana. 'It's becoming more of a full-day listening experience, as opposed to just when you're jogging.'
Increasingly, Novak says he's seeing too many young people with 'older ears on younger bodies' _ a trend that's been building since the portable Walkman made its debut a few decades back.
Everywhere she turns, Angella Day sees people carrying portable music players, often with the ear buds stuffed firmly in place. 'They're very widespread,' says Day, a senior at Chicago's DePaul University who regularly listens to music on her own iPod while studying or working out. 'So addicting.' "