62% of regular clubbers and 72% of regular concert goers report problems with their hearing.

Concerts and nightclubs produce sounds that can register up to 120 decibels, louder than a pneumatic drill. In the workplace employees are required to wear hearing protection when levels exceed 85 decibels.

Reports of tinnitus - ringing in the ears - experienced by young people exposed to loud music have increased threefold since the early 1980s.

The report found that 6.8% of people not regularly exposed to loud music of 85 decibels or over suffer from tinnitus compared to 20% of people who are.

Symptoms in some cases last only a few hours, but they are a sign that damage to hearing has occurred.

The damage is cumulative and permanent, and the risk increases with greater volume and longer exposure.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/409987.stm