INTRODUCTION: Frequent visitation to nightclubs and the inappropriate use of personal stereos result in a temporary threshold shift, hearing loss, and tinnitus in young people. OBJECTIVE: To verify findings in the research literature that demonstrate the effects of recreational noise on the hearing of young people with tinnitus. METHODS: We performed a literature search through Pub Med and SciELO. We searched for articles that were written in the delimiting period of 2008-2013. The keywords used were "hearing loss," "music,""tinnitus," and "young."One hundred ninety-five articles were initially found. The inclusion criteria were research studies with young people suffering from tinnitus, who had used personal stereos and/or frequented nightclubs. Other studies were excluded, thereby leaving 14 articles. RESULTS: In the literature, 1review described studies that reported excessive exposure to loud music causes various auditory symptoms (e.g., tinnitus) and consequently hearing loss; 2 international studies found that nightclubs are a high-risk source of leisure noise; 4 studies administered questionnaires asking questions about habits with regard to recreational noise and found that young people are more susceptible to hearing loss and tinnitus; 7 studies were focused on the inappropriate use of personal stereos affecting the auditory system of young people. CONCLUSION: In recent years there have been no studies conducted on national clubs, which is the typical environment where youth are exposed to noise nowadays. All studies showed that itis important to prevent hearing loss in young people who perform activities related to recreational noise exposure.