Hear Today, Gone Tomorrow: Assessment of Portable Entertainment Player Use
Background: Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is a common but preventable disability. The purpose of this study was to assess the understanding of NIHL in a community sample in the context of exposure to portable music players, including MP3 players, and personal hearing acuity as tested with the Welch Allyn Audioscope 3.
Methods: A cross-sectional convenience sample of 94 adults (18 to 65 years old) at a university recreation center completed an analysis of personal use of portable digital music players (MP3 players), concerns about hearing loss, and a 3-dB-level hearing test at 4 levels of speech frequency in a low ambient noise setting.
Results: The majority of participants (85%) were concerned about hearing loss, willing to protect their hearing with lower volume (77%), had little measurable hearing loss but were exposed to longer and louder periods of noise than other national samples, and mistakenly felt that NIHL is a medically reversible condition. Many (40%) also wanted their family medicine physician to be more concerned about their hearing.
Conclusions: Family medicine physicians are in a key position to provide basic information on the preventability and negative consequences of NIHL, as well as to identify and refer patients with identified hearing loss.
Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is the most frequently occurring preventable disability and can be caused by recreational or occupational sources of sound, as evidenced by the nearly 22 million Americans between the ages of 20 and 69 who have irreversibly damaged hearing because of excessive noise exposure. National hearing screening tests have identified an increase in hearing problems for children at ever younger ages, suggesting that new sources of noise may already be impacting the hearing of young people.
Proper auditory function depends on the transmission of mechanical sound energy from the external environment, through the ear and brainstem, to cortical processing centers. Pathology can occur at any point in the auditory pathway, and the defect can range from a mild conductive loss to severe sensorineural hearing loss and profound deafness. Chronic noise exposure damages sensory hair cells in the cochlea, which are responsible for stimulating the auditory nerve. The resulting sensorineural hearing loss is characterized by a primary loss of the hair cells and the subsequent degeneration of auditory nerve processes. Diagnostic measures based on sound perception (such as the audiometry used in this study) do not specifically evaluate hair cell function, so damage is often not noticed until an irreversible perceptual deficit arises. Patients with mild sensorineural hearing loss can be treated with hearing aids, but severe sensorineural loss can only be treated with cochlear implantation. The permanence of noise-induced hearing loss emphasizes the importance of the prevention of noise damage.
The increasing availability of portable music/entertainment players (PMPs) raises questions about the way these devices are being used, consequences for hearing, and general awareness of the potential for damage from such equipment. To date, evidence supporting the relationship between PMP use and hearing damage is mixed. However, it is well documented that damage to the auditory system is a cumulative process and that once injury from loud noise is sufficiently severe enough to be measured, the loss is substantial and irreversible.
There have been several recent surveys regarding the self-reported use of earphones and portable entertainment devices and concerns about use. However, there are no recently published reports focusing on the use of portable entertainment devices that survey the potential for and concern about hearing damage as assessed against actual hearing acuity.
The purpose of this study is to summarize the findings from a brief screening performed at a large Midwestern University consisting of volunteer feedback about listening habits and a free assessment of hearing acuity from a handheld audiometer. The project was developed as an introduction to applied clinical research for first- and second-year medical students and sponsored by a Family Medicine program.
Abstract and Introduction
Abstract
Background: Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is a common but preventable disability. The purpose of this study was to assess the understanding of NIHL in a community sample in the context of exposure to portable music players, including MP3 players, and personal hearing acuity as tested with the Welch Allyn Audioscope 3.
Methods: A cross-sectional convenience sample of 94 adults (18 to 65 years old) at a university recreation center completed an analysis of personal use of portable digital music players (MP3 players), concerns about hearing loss, and a 3-dB-level hearing test at 4 levels of speech frequency in a low ambient noise setting.
Results: The majority of participants (85%) were concerned about hearing loss, willing to protect their hearing with lower volume (77%), had little measurable hearing loss but were exposed to longer and louder periods of noise than other national samples, and mistakenly felt that NIHL is a medically reversible condition. Many (40%) also wanted their family medicine physician to be more concerned about their hearing.
Conclusions: Family medicine physicians are in a key position to provide basic information on the preventability and negative consequences of NIHL, as well as to identify and refer patients with identified hearing loss.
Introduction
Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is the most frequently occurring preventable disability and can be caused by recreational or occupational sources of sound, as evidenced by the nearly 22 million Americans between the ages of 20 and 69 who have irreversibly damaged hearing because of excessive noise exposure. National hearing screening tests have identified an increase in hearing problems for children at ever younger ages, suggesting that new sources of noise may already be impacting the hearing of young people.
Proper auditory function depends on the transmission of mechanical sound energy from the external environment, through the ear and brainstem, to cortical processing centers. Pathology can occur at any point in the auditory pathway, and the defect can range from a mild conductive loss to severe sensorineural hearing loss and profound deafness. Chronic noise exposure damages sensory hair cells in the cochlea, which are responsible for stimulating the auditory nerve. The resulting sensorineural hearing loss is characterized by a primary loss of the hair cells and the subsequent degeneration of auditory nerve processes. Diagnostic measures based on sound perception (such as the audiometry used in this study) do not specifically evaluate hair cell function, so damage is often not noticed until an irreversible perceptual deficit arises. Patients with mild sensorineural hearing loss can be treated with hearing aids, but severe sensorineural loss can only be treated with cochlear implantation. The permanence of noise-induced hearing loss emphasizes the importance of the prevention of noise damage.
The increasing availability of portable music/entertainment players (PMPs) raises questions about the way these devices are being used, consequences for hearing, and general awareness of the potential for damage from such equipment. To date, evidence supporting the relationship between PMP use and hearing damage is mixed. However, it is well documented that damage to the auditory system is a cumulative process and that once injury from loud noise is sufficiently severe enough to be measured, the loss is substantial and irreversible.
There have been several recent surveys regarding the self-reported use of earphones and portable entertainment devices and concerns about use. However, there are no recently published reports focusing on the use of portable entertainment devices that survey the potential for and concern about hearing damage as assessed against actual hearing acuity.
The purpose of this study is to summarize the findings from a brief screening performed at a large Midwestern University consisting of volunteer feedback about listening habits and a free assessment of hearing acuity from a handheld audiometer. The project was developed as an introduction to applied clinical research for first- and second-year medical students and sponsored by a Family Medicine program.
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