An expert has cautioned that young people are rendering their health at a high threat, posed by listening to music at the same volume as jet engine noise.

Some devices bear the capacity of 120 decibels of sound - similar to a jet engine - using headphones that fit in the ear; youngsters keep listening to the same sometimes for hours on end, Prof. Peter Rabinowitz of Yale University School of Medicine uncovered.

He further claimed that listening to MP3 players such as iPods at very high volumes could result in permanent loss of hearing.

Various surveys have depicted that more than 90 per cent of young people in Europe and the U.S. used them, usually for unceasingly long hours a day at maximum volume.

The professor, writing online in the British Medical Journal, quoted, "Concern is growing that children and young adults are developing noise-induced hearing loss as a result of over-exposure to amplified music".

The warnings emerged following the European Commission claim that over 10 per cent of 30-year-olds would require using a hearing device within the next decade as they listen to music at very high levels.