In Brief: Loud music damages teen hearing

   After interviewing and testing 170 students 11 to 17 years old, researchers found that more than a quarter (28.8 percent) had experienced a condition known as tinnitus -- ringing in the ears. And more than half -- 54 percent -- reported that they had previously experienced tinnitus.
    All were students from a school in São Paulo, Brazil, and most had admitted to “risky listening habits,” loud music at parties, in clubs and on personal listening devices.
    Most tinnitus cases are diagnosed after someone turns 50 years old, according to the study, led by Brazilian and Canadian researchers and published in the journal Scientific Reports.
    Students affected by tinnitus could hear as well as their peers, but they had a reduced tolerance for loud music -- a sign of hidden damage to nerves that process sound. “Notably, such losses induced by noise trauma in young animals are known to accelerate the pace of progressive age-related changes in cochlear physiology that are otherwise expressed much later in life,” the research concluded.
    The research is: Tinnitus is associated with reduced sound level tolerance in adolescents with normal audiograms and otoacoustic emissions.

GIRLS MORE INVESTED IN EDUCATION: More 13-year-old girls than boys say it is important to go to college, according to research by the University of Oxford in England.
    As students got older, the gender gap persisted, with girls still more convinced of education’s value, according to the university’s education department, which tracked data from more than 3,000 young people.
    Students from lower-income families are less likely to say education is important.
    “Just over half of disadvantaged students thought it was very important to get a university degree at age 15-16, compared with around 60 percent of those from more advantaged backgrounds,” according to a university news release. “However, the research shows that these students were not as likely to anticipate they would  go on to university themselves, with just over one-quarter of them (27 percent) believing this, compared with 39 percent of their peers from more advantaged backgrounds.”

     Related:

     In Brief: Students need more sleep

     Report: Is college worth the cost?

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