(The Baltimore Sun) 

Liz Atwood wonders about the effects of loud TV and other devices on kids in this week's Tween Tuesday:

I'm starting to wonder who plays the television more loudly, my 79-year-old father or my tween boys. It seems I'm constantly having to tell the kids to turn down the volume on the TV or video games and recent studies show there is cause for alarm.

Last month, researchers in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that hearing loss among teens has increased 30 percent in the last 15 years. In tests conducted in 2005-2006 on kids between the ages of 12 and 19, researchers found that one in five had some hearing loss compared to 14.5 percent of kids tested in 1988-1994.

The researchers could not pinpoint the exact reason for the increase, but some studies have shown headphones and earbuds might be responsible. My kids don't usually wear headphones and earbuds when they listen to music, but their tendency to crank up the volume on the TV is worrisome.

Have you noticed your kids doing this? The Rockville-based American Speech-Language-Hearing Association has great resources to help parents turn down the volume on their child's listening devices.