In response, Oregon Health & Science University and Oregon Museum of Science & Industry experts crafted an education program called "Dangerous Decibels," which they hope to spread to children statewide.

"The number of kids with hearing loss is dramatically increasing. And the culprit seems to be noise," said OHSU audiologist Billy Martin, Dangerous Decibels' scientific director.

A 1990s federal survey estimated that 5.2 million children have measurable hearing damage from noise, about 1 in 8 schoolchildren. And that was before the iPod, which can pour hours of uninterrupted music into ears.

"I listen to it loud. All the way up," Jefferson Rillera, a Benson Polytechnic High School senior and iPod fan, told The Oregonian. "I'm used to music like that."

That alone worries hearing experts, never mind TV, movies, car stereos and computer games.

More than a fifth of 1,419 youngsters informally surveyed at OMSI's Dangerous Decibels exhibit said they fired a gun in the past year. More than half reported riding in cars with loud stereos, and 34 percent went to a concert.

Personal music players draw more concern as they grow more popular. Nearly 90 percent of teens surveyed at the OMSI exhibit had recently used some kind of stereo headphones.

"I think that a large part of it is these MP3 players and iPods," said Teri Hall, audiology supervisor for Kaiser Permanente Northwest and a mother of two. "I tell my kids, when they're sitting in the back seat, if I can hear that music and you've got the inserts in your ear, it's too loud."

Robert Folmer, an Oregon Health & Science University hearing expert, said the basic problem is the world in changing faster than the human body.

"Our ear was not designed for these things from the industrial era — guns, power tools, Metallica concerts."

Source: http://www.oregonlive.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-13/113256264178140.xml&storylist=orlocal