Yo, I tell you it's NEVER too early to start being concerned about this. I'm 52, and many of my friends, some twenty years younger, suffer hearing loss from noise exposure. Some of my friends that are woodworkers in their 30's have rather severe hearing loss already from their work environments. I split my time at work between working as a photographer and a sculpture fabricator. When I use power tools, vacuum cleaners, sandblasters, anything noisy, I use hearing protection. I remember reading about a study of people in the Andes who never were exposed to the sort of ambient noise levels we experience day in and out. The elderly Andean men they tested had hearing acuity equal to a teenage boys in our culture, with no evidence of high frequency hearing loss. I suspect the noise levels we are told to be occupationally safe are not at all safe long term. My wife suffers terrible congenital tinnitus and hearing loss and she is very careful to preserve what hearing she has. She teaches first grade and has had impromtu class discussions about protecting hearing. During these talks, she has turned off the flourescent lights and air conditioning and asked her kids to tell her if they hear tinnitus "crickets chirping" noises in their hearing. A susprising and alarming number of kids say they do. Of course, some kids may just be reacting to the power of suggestion, but the results of her non-scientific surveys do give you cause for consideration.
Do you protect your hearing?
My Dad's hearing has been bad for a while and he recently had to get hearing aids. I'm a relatively young man and I know I have not used proper hearing protection throughout my life. This audio stuff is a wonderful thing and something I'd like to enjoy my entire life, so I have been more aware of noise in my everyday life. My job requires me to work in a sometimes loud environment and my other hobby is woodworking. For about the last 5 years or so, I have made a conscious effort to wear hearing protection when I'm in such an environments. Just recently I started to use hearing protection while cutting the grass, something I wouldn't have considered in the past. Has your interest in audio caused you to be more aware of hearing protection or am I the only anal one here?