The National Health data shows that one out of every five American teenager is suffering from the problem of hearing loss. In the last two decades, the number has increased significantly.

Many believe that hearing loss is happening because of more usage of earphones and headphones, which the youngsters use to listen to music on an iPod or MP3 player. It is advised that children should listen to music at a low volume.

As per the study, during the years 1988-1994 and 2005-2006, the rate of hearing loss problem increased from 15% to 19.5% in teenagers aged 12 to 19 years.

Doctors say that hearing loud music is not the only reason of the burgeoning number of hearing loss cases.

Medical experts say that inadequate diet and nutrition and coming in contact with harmful toxic products may also be other major factors that may lead to hearing loss.

Children who are from poor families and their parents are unable to provide them good food to support the adequate development of their auditory system also suffer from greater risk of hearing loss.

Hearing problem could also be due to low self-confidence, not performing well at school, and difficulty in development of language.

According to Dr. Mai Thy Truong, a Pediatric Otolaryngologist at Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara, "Even though this study doesn't tell us exactly what's causing hearing loss, all parents should talk to their kids about risk from long-term noise exposure".

Further research is needed to know the exact reasons for this problem.