Surely some teens, myself included, have the habit to turn the ipod or mp3 player up high. But experts are worried it poses big risks to teens later on.

When turning up ipods and personal stereos is becoming more common to block out the noise of daily commutes, hearing-loss experts worry about the dose of noise from say, a bus engine, plus the noise from a personal playlist.

A bus can emit a sound as loud as an alarm clock, and adding a personal stereo at more than half of the volume to that "is setting yourself up for early-onset hearing loss" that will affect everyday life and conversation. Says Monica Pozer, Canadian Island Hearing Services Director of Auidology.

People would avoid an electric saw at more than 100 decibels but they plug music directly into their ears at the same level, Pozer notes.

She goes on to say turning up the volume will make it "dangerously loud for your hearing health...should current listening habits continue, widespread hearing-loss due to MP3-player use could become a reality."

Do you listen to your music loud? Do you believe Monica and other hearing-loss experts are worrying excessively? Or should we really turn the music down?

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