Warnings have been sent out by a leading charity, it asserts that because of playing iPods very loudly, several young people in Northern Ireland have developed threat of early hearing loss.

According to the Royal National Institute for the Deaf NI, listening to very loud music on MP3 for a very long time is comparable to listening to a power drill at close distance.

It is said that in a proposal to teach adolescents on the risks, the charity will visit schools in the area as part of Noise Action Week. They would then test the levels of volume set by students in their private music players.

According to the research, 58% of 16 to 30-year-olds were uninformed of any threat to their hearing from the music players.

It was projected that about 124million to 165 million MP3 players have been sold in the EU.

It was found by the RDNI research that two-thirds (66%) of people listening to music on these devices do so at volumes more than the suggested 85db.

RNDI NI Spokeswoman, Claire Lavery stated, “Millions plug in and don’t realize the music they love could be harming them. As a rule of thumb, if you can't hear external noises or it’s uncomfortable to listen to, the music is too loud, so turns it down a few notches.”