NEWS > EVERYONE ELSE > NEW STUDY LINKS LOUD MUSIC TO INCREASED DIVORCE RATE

NEW STUDY LINKS LOUD MUSIC TO INCREASED DIVORCE RATE

August 24 2009

Washington, D.C. – Since the beginning of the formalized version of pair-bond amongst humans there has been drama. Before the advent of marriage, collaborations between people of the opposite sex often resulted in tension that occasionally meant
the dissolution of the agreement. Though the rite of marriage does reach back far into antiquity the popularity of the union has peaked in modern times with virtually everyone marrying or seeking marriage in some form. With the growth of marriage so too has divorce grown and though many unions end for the same reasons as our ancestors, researchers have continued to seek a solution.

As divorce rates continue to climb across the world many are calling into question the very nature of marriage. Once deemed a necessity in ancient tribes in order to decrease competition between males, the rise of romantic love and the beneficial financial relationship has become the dominant rationale for the union. As those requirements start to diminish so too has the patience for the bond and researchers now believe they may have a partial answer, and it revolves around hearing loss.

“We conducted a thorough study of 100 couples who had been through divorce, 100 couples still in marriages after ten years, and 100 individuals who had been involved in more than one divorce. What we found was that there was a major difference in the divorce rates between people with some kind of hearing damage and those who still have normal hearing, leading us to conclude that the two are intimately connected,” said Dr. Damon Cave who led the study. “The rise in divorce rates in the United States that has been occurring for the last few decades is, we believe, directly connected to the rise of Rock and Roll music and the related hearing loss. Most couples that encounter serious problems cite listening as a major cause of the issues but now we know that there may be an actual physiological root to those problems.”

Many therapists and marriage counsellors draw a distinction between hearing and listening but have never addressed the possibility of actual hearing loss being at the root of many arguments. It is believed that close confines of the therapy offices allow for better acoustics.

“This is the first study to actually find a causal effect for what many men in particular have been claiming for years and could lead to a breakthrough in marriage counselling. It’s a little too early to say that this will suddenly reverse the trend towards divorce but it certainly gives us a new platform from which to study the phenomenon,” said Scrape TV Family Values analyst Marge Hendricks. “There will of course be a significant psychological barrier to accepting this as a cause of the issues, particularly amongst young couples who are most likely to stray towards divorce. Nonetheless it is good news and in the long run may lead to a decrease in divorce, or possibly a new boon for earplug manufacturers.”

The study is not expected to affect women, even the participants in the study, who won’t accept blame for hearing loss.

“If marriage as an institution is to survive than we are going to have to diagnose what exactly is going wrong with it. That may sound dramatic but as generations grow up in broken marriages they will put less and less emphasis on the need for marriage and that could eventually lead to the abandonment of the institution entirely,” continued Hendricks. “What is likely to never go away is the desire to listen to loud music so it will be an uphill battle to preserve the sanctity of the union.”

Infidelity and financial difficulties are still cited as major causes of divorce though it’s not clear how those two issues might be related to hearing loss.

Lauren Hebert, Health Correspondent

NEWS > EVERYONE ELSE > NEW STUDY LINKS LOUD MUSIC TO INCREASED DIVORCE RATE