The European Commission (EU) has called for a limit to be set on volume levels of all MP3 players.

BBC News reports that the call follows a report last year that warned as many as 10 million people in the EU could be at risk of losing their hearing through listening to loud music on portable music players.

Hearing experts say the default setting on such players should be 85 decibels (dB), although users would be able to override this to a maximum of 100dB.

A two-month consultation involving all EU standardisation bodies will be launched in January, with agreement expected in spring 2010.

Experts have found that some personal music players allow users to listen to music at levels up to 120dB – the equivalent of a jet aeroplane taking off. Modern players are considered more dangerous than older portable music players not only because of the levels of volume they reach, but because of the amount of music that can be stored and listened to over long periods.

Audiology consultant Dr Robin Yeoh from the Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust said that younger patients referred to him were often found to be suffering from the same sort of hearing damaged that previously would have been caused by working in industry

‘More and more young people are referred to me by their GPs with tinnitus or hearing loss as a direct result to exposure to loud music,’ said Dr Yeoh.

‘The damage is permanent and will often play havoc with their employment opportunities and their personal lives.’

Conservative MEP Martin Callanan sits on the European Parliament's Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee – he said that agreed levels of volume for music players

would not stop youngsters listening to music at high levels simply because ‘kids have always listened to their music loud’.

‘You have to educate them to the risks – but ultimately you have to allow personal responsibility and personal choice,’ he said.

Personal music players currently do not have any legally established volume limit.

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