Men suffer noise-induced hearing loss more than women, it seems.   Guys just rock out more, you might think.  Better to burn out than fade away, and all that.  

But it's primarily married white guys who can't turn the volume down, which means our families will have the next 70 years of repeating everything twice, and louder, because, let's face it, guys with rock star fantasies won't wear hearing aids.  What's to be done?

Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is a preventable though increasingly prevalent hearing disorder that results from exposure to high-intensity sound, especially over a long period of time.   Thanks, iPod.  Now turn down the Journey, gentlemen.  If you haven't stopped believin' by now, you never will.

A comprehensive study of the prevalence and risk factors for NIHL show that men, especially those who are white and married, are significantly more at risk than women, according to new research presented at the 2009 American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Annual Meeting&OTO EXPO, in San Diego, CA.

A new study on noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) analyzed audiometric testing data from 5,290 people between the ages of 20 and 69 years and indicates that more than 13 percent of subjects have NIHL, which would correspond with approximately 24 million Americans if their confidence interval is not 35% or something.   The strongest association was that men are 2.5 times more likely to develop NIHL than women and married white (non-Hispanic) men have the highest risk group for developing NIHL. 

They believe this is the first study to examine the demographics of NIHL using the most recent figures from 1999-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) and say this information can allow greater education, preventative, and screening efforts.

Results presented  at the 2009 American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Annual Meeting