Effect of recreational noise exposure on hearing impairment among teenage students

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Abstract

Several studies have focused on the potential impact of children's hearing loss on learning and development. Recently, numerous teenage students have been found to be fond of listening to music on personal devices and participating in recreational music activities. 

The objective of this study was to investigate teenage students’ hearing impairment, their experience with recreational noise exposure, and their self-reported hearing.

 The participants were 1878 first-year students at a university in Taiwan.

 The result of the pure tone audiometry test showed that 11.9% of the participants had one or two ears with a hearing threshold over 25 dB. 

Over the past year, approximately 80.9% of the participants had taken part in at least one loud-noise recreational activity, and 90.9% of the participants were in the habit of using earphones.

 Among the participants, 190 students with a high level of recreational noise exposure were assigned to the exposure group, and 191 students with a low level of recreational noise exposure constituted the control group.

 The exposure group had more hearing problems than the control group, but no significant difference existed between the two groups in the pure tone audiometry test (p = 0.857). 

It is suggested that the schools should reinforce hearing health education and proactively provide intervention measures, such as hearing tests, evaluation of noise exposure, and hearing protection.

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Highlights

► Approximately 90.9% of the participants had the habit of using earphones during the past year. ► Pure tone audiometry showed 11.9% of subjects had one or both ears with hearing threshold over 25 dB. ► It was found that 13.5% of the subjects reported that they suffered from tinnitus. ► The noise exposure group had more self-reported hearing problems than the control group (p < 0.001).

Keywords

• Recreational noise;
• Hearing impairment;
• Pure tone audiometry test;
• Teenage

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Authors

• Chen-Yin Tung^a,
• Keh-Ping Chao^{b, ,}

• ^a Department of Health Promotion & Health Education, College of Education, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan
• ^b Department of Occupational Safety & Health, College of Public Health, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan

Corresponding author at: Hsueh-Shih Road, Taichung, Taiwan. Tel.: +886 4 22053366x6205; fax: +886 4 22070500.

Fuente:  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2012.07.015