Everyday, Laura Wilson walks to class, her iPod blaring her favorite songs into her earbuds. Once she turns off the music, her ears are filled with another sound that only she can hear — ringing.

“I know the fact that I hear ringing isn’t good for me, since I have awful hearing anyway,” Wilson, a senior from Dallas, said. “I just love my music to be loud, especially when I want to zone out while walking to class.”

A recent study from the Journal of the American Medical Association revealed that general hearing loss among young adults increased by 5 percent over the past 10 years. Scientists cannot explain the loss.

Tiffany Johnson, director of the human auditory research laboratory, said there was no concrete data that explained this increased rate in hearing loss. But some audiologists believe that the loud noise from concerts, headphones, motorcycles and other noisy hobbies may lead to hearing loss, Johnson said.

“This is permanent hearing loss. It can never be fixed,” Johnson said.

Permanent hearing loss is caused when loud noise damages the hair cells in the cochlea, a snail-shaped structure of the inner ear. These cells interpret sounds coming from outside the ear into neural signals that are sent to the brain for processing. Without the hair cells, this process cannot function.

Noise-induced hearing loss is preventable, said Susan Megerson, an audiologist from the Kansas City area. There are three factors of noise-induced hearing loss: the sound level of the noise, the amount of time exposed to the noise and how often the exposure occurs. She said loud music from an iPod was not the most hazardous form of noise.

“The point that I always try to make is that there are other things more hazardous than listening to a loud iPod,” Megerson said.

Background noises from the environment such as construction and loud cars can also damage hearing. The key is to learn when to see an audiologist when a person experiences issues with his or her hearing. Megerson recommended that people visit a professional if they experience hearing problems, ringing or pain in their ears.

Students can contact the Department of Speech-Language-Hearing for an appointment by calling 785-864-0630. Megerson said the best way to avoid hearing damage is to protect the ears from loud noises. Students can purchase earplugs at pharmacies, hardware stores and sports centers to protect their hearing.