Manufacturers of MP3 players should limit the volume on the devices and authorities should develop public awareness campaigns to prevent hearing loss, Dutch researchers said Monday.

"Authorities, the music industry in general, and especially manufacturers of MP3 players and earphones should recognize their responsibility and create a safer MP3-listening environment by taking measures to protect today's youth from the dangers of listening to high-volume music on MP3 players," Dr. Hein Raat of the department of pubic health at Erasmus MC University Medical Centre in Rotterdam and colleagues concluded in the journal Pediatrics.

Public awareness campaigns could alert and protect people who listen loud and long, said Bill Hodgetts, an audiology researcher at the University of Alberta. But most people listen at safe levels, Hodgett's studies suggest.

"I don't know that the government necessarily needs to be involved in this," as in France, which regulates volume levels on devices. "I think the better approach would be to educate people about the risks."

It's not uncommon for young people, even elementary school-age children, to start having ringing in their ears, said Greg Noel, an audiologist with Nova Scotia Hearing and Speech Centres in Halifax.

"Probably about 10 to 15 per cent of them do report problems as a result of listening to their devices too loud," said Noel. "So they'll either report ringing in their ears, what we call tinnitus, a muffled sound or sometimes they'll even report a pain in their ears."

Nadia Ferog, a Grade 11 student in Halifax, is rethinking the volume levels on her player after she started having ringing in her years.

"During a test, all of a sudden my ears just started ringing. It's probably a sign that I should turn my music down," said Ferog, adding she tended to drown out the sound of people with her Arabic, Spanish and hip hop tunes.