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.

欧盟的科学家们向欧洲数百万年轻人发出警告，如果他们以过高的音量每周听MP3超过五个小时的话，五年后可能会永久失聪。

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.

受欧洲委员会委托开展的此项研究抨击了所谓的“休闲噪音”，指出应保护儿童和青少年，让他们远离日益增多的音量危害，手机噪音也同时成为被指摘的对象。

"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.

作为欧盟的执行机构，该委员会在一份声明中表示，“新一代的个人音乐播放器在以很高音量播放音乐时仍能够保证音质不失真，由此引发的安全使用问题已受到越来越多的关注。”

"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.

声明称，“听力受损的风险主要取决于音量大小和听的时间长短”，越来越多的年轻人正面临休闲噪音对听觉造成的严重威胁。

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.

科学家统计，目前欧盟各国有5%至10%的听者面临此问题，这意味着总人数多达一千万。

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

近年来，欧盟各国的个人音乐播放器尤其是MP3播放器的销量增长迅速。

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

欧盟委员会负责消费者权益保护事务的委员梅格莱娜?库涅娃还批评了手机过高音量所带来的危害。

"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.

她在声明中表示，“这么多年轻人......频繁接触个人音乐播放器和手机带来的超高音量，我担心他们会在不经意间给自己的听力造成无法挽回的损害。”