Millions of youngsters across Europe could suffer permanent hearing loss after five years if they listen to MP3 players at too high a volume for more than five hours a week， EU scientists warned.

The scientists' study， requested by the European Commission， attacked the concept of \"leisure noise，\" saying children and teenagers should be protected from increasingly high sound levels--with loud mobile phones also coming in for criticism.

\"There has been increasing concern about exposure from the new generation of personal music players which can reproduce sounds at very high volumes without loss of quality，\" the Commission， the EU's executive arm， said in a statement.

\"Risk for hearing damage depends on sound level and exposure time，\" it said. More and more young people were exposed to the significant threat that leisure noise posed to hearing， it said.

The scientists calculated the number of people in that risk category at between five and 10 percent of listeners， meaning up to 10 million people in the European Union.

Sales of personal music players have soared in EU countries in recent years， particularly of MP3 players.

Mobile phones used at excessive volume also came under fire from Meglena Kuneva， the EU's consumer affairs commissioner.

\"I am concerned that so many young people...who are frequent users of personal music players and mobile phones at high acoustic levels， may be unknowingly damaging their hearing irrevocably，\" she said in the statement.

歐盟的科學家們向歐洲數(shù)百萬年輕人發(fā)出警告，如果他們以過高的音量每周聽MP3超過五個小時的話，五年后可能會永久失聰。

受歐洲委員會委托開展的此項研究抨擊了所謂的\"休閑噪音\"，指出應(yīng)保護兒童和青少年，讓他們遠離日益增多的音量危害，手機噪音也同時成為被指摘的對象。

作為歐盟的執(zhí)行機構(gòu)，該委員會在一份聲明中表示，\"新一代的個人音樂播放器在以很高音量播放音樂時仍能夠保證音質(zhì)不失真，由此引發(fā)的安全使用問題已受到越來越多的關(guān)注。\"

聲明稱，\"聽力受損的風險主要取決于音量大小和聽的時間長短\"，越來越多的年輕人正面臨休閑噪音對聽覺造成的嚴重威脅。

科學家統(tǒng)計，目前歐盟各國有5%至10%的聽者面臨此問題，這意味著總?cè)藬?shù)多達一千萬。近年來，歐盟各國的個人音樂播放器尤其是MP3播放器的銷量增長迅速。

歐盟委員會負責消費者權(quán)益保護事務(wù)的委員梅格萊娜·庫涅娃還批評了手機過高音量所帶來的危害。

她在聲明中表示，\"這么多年輕人......頻繁接觸個人音樂播放器和手機帶來的超高音量，我擔心他們會在不經(jīng)意間給自己的聽力造成無法挽回的損害。\"