72.
asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what research is currently being undertaken by her Department into the effects of discotheque noise on the hearing of young people.
The Medical Research Council is supporting a four-year research project in the architectural studies department of Leeds Polytechnic, expiring in September 1978, to study hearing loss in schoolchildren with particular reference to "pop" music in discotheques.
I understand from my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment that his Department, on behalf of the Noise Advisory Council, is financing a two-year contract, also at the Leeds Polytechnic, expiring in January 1979, to carry out a survey of attendance patterns and noise levels at discotheques and other similar places in the West Yorkshire area. The aim is to determine whether regular attendance is likely to result in permanent hearing damage.