One in Five Teenagers Might Be Making Themselves Deaf 2.90K Richard Lawson 08/17/10 04:38PM Filed to: The kids are not all right The kids are not all right Science Hearing Hearing loss shutterstock Uh oh. A new study in the Journal of the AMA reveals that 19.5% of kids 12-19 have hearing loss, and 5.3% have noticeable loss, likely due to earbud use. Your teen isn't ignoring you. They just can't hear you.