And while previous research has found a link between loud rock music and at least temporary hearing loss, this study found that it did not much matter what kind of music it was, as long as it was amplified.

"There's a misconception out there that heavy metal is louder than pop, which is louder than country," said the lead researcher, Dr. David A. Opperman of the University of Minnesota Medical Center. "They're all loud," he said.

Oddly, the noise level at a heavy metal concert studied by the researchers tended to be a little lower than the level at other concerts studied, because instead of clapping and shouting, many concertgoers were banging into each other in a mosh pit, the researchers said.

In the study, being presented this week before the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation, 29 volunteers attended three kinds of concerts - pop, rockabilly and heavy metal - at the same concert hall.

Afterward, 64 percent of those who did not wear earplugs had hearing loss, compared with 27 percent of those who did wear them.

By Eric Nagourney