Festival-goers are 'damaging their hearing'

Festival-goers are risking serious damage to their hearing, according to a survey carried out as part of the Royal National Institute For The Deaf's 'Don't Lose The Music' Campaign.

Having polled around 2,700 festival-goers - a thousand online and the rest at Glastonbury, Latitude, Rise and Reading And Leeds Festivals - the charity found that over half felt loud music had damaged their ears.

Over eighty per cent had experienced warning signs of damage, such as dulled hearing or ringing in the ears, but only seventeen per cent of those, however, had ever taken steps to protect their hearing.

Music fans at Leeds Festival were most likely to have experienced signs of hearing damage, according to the report, in stark contrast to the complaints from fans that the sound at Reading And Leeds Festivals was too quiet this year.

Festival-goers at Glastonbury, meanwhile, were most likely to have taken steps to protect their hearing, such as standing away from the PA system or taking regular breaks.

Emma Harrison from the RNID told BBC News: "These results issue a stark warning about the UK's future hearing health. Volume levels at festivals can reach levels over 110 decibels - that's the same as a jet plane taking off. Repeated listening at this volume will cause premature hearing loss."

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