The World Health Organisation (WHO) is worried that 1.1 billion teenagers and people in their twenties andearly thirties are damaging their hearing by listening to loud music. It says nearly half the young peoplein middle- and high-income countries risk hearing loss because of the "unsafe use" of personal music players, including smartphones. Loud music in nightclubs, bars and at sporting events also increases the risk. The WHO recommends a safe limit of listening to music for just one hour a day. The WHO director for injuryprevention, Dr Etienne Krug, told the BBC that: "What we're trying to do is raise awareness of an issue that is not talked about enough." He said hearing loss is easily preventable.

世界卫生组织担心由于大音量音乐，全球11亿青少年，20多岁以及30岁出头的听力正在受到损害。该组织称在中高等收入的国家中，将近一半的青少年更容易造成听力损伤，这是因为人们没有正确使用音乐播放器，包括智能手机。夜总会、酒吧以及体育比赛的大音量也会增加这一危险。世界卫生组织认为每天听音乐的时间应该限制在1小时。世卫组织伤害预防司司长Etienne Krug博士对BBC说：“我们正在帮助人们增加对这一严峻问题的意识，这一问题非常严重。”他说听力问题可以很容易地得到预防。

Dr Krug said keeping the volume down and limiting the use of personal audio devices to less than one hour a day would save a lot of people's hearing. However, he also said that, "even an hour can be too much if the volume is too loud". Ralph Holme, a biomedical researcher, explained how loud noise can damage ears. Hesaid: "Loud sounds damage your hearing by killing off thousands of little hair cells in the inner ear. Thecells detect different pitches of sound through vibration…but they are very fragile and if they vibrate too much due to loud sounds for too long, they get damaged and die." He warned that: "The problem is they don't grow back and the ear can no longer detect sound."

Krug 医生说降低音量，把每天使用音乐设备的时间降低到1小时将帮助很多人拥有健康的听力。但是，他还说“如果音量太大，一小时的时间也是非常长的。”生物医药研究员Ralph Holme向我们解释了大音量是如何损害我们的听力的。他说：“大音量能够杀死内耳中的上千个毛细胞。这种细胞能够通过震动来识别音量的高低，但是这种细胞非常脆弱，长期大音量将使它做大幅度的震动，那么它将受到损害，直至死亡。他警告说：“关键是它将不会增长，并将无法再次识别声音。”