YOUNG people the world over love listening to music through tiny ear-buds attached to portable electronic devices. But if they don't keep the volume down they could lose some of their hearing, warns a European Union body. Last week, experts from the EU Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks said that as many as 10 million young Europeans were in danger of losing their hearing if they didn't cut back on their use of mp3 players. They warned that listening to portable devices at high volume for one hour a day for five years could also cause a slight ringing sensation known as tinnitus. "Let's be frank – we are looking at a catastrophe unless something is done soon," Stephen Russell of the pan-European ANEC consumer safety group told Reuters. Officials estimate that 5 to 10 percent of young Europeans are at risk if they don't change their listening habits.