Noise-Induced Hearing Loss Among Medical Students: Evaluating the Impact of Personal Music Player Use and Earbud Dependency

Noise-Induced Hearing Loss Among Medical Students: Evaluating the Impact of Personal Music Player Use and Earbud Dependency

Hearing is a vital sense essential for communication, learning, and overall quality of life. The growing prevalence of personal music player usage among students has prompted investigations into its potential effects on auditory health. The study aims to as¬sess hearing sensitivity among medical students using personal music players (PMP) through pure tone audiometry and to evaluate varied outcomes based on duration of device usage. This study also estimates awareness of the“60/60”rule. To gather data for this study, a pretested questionnaire was completed via Google Forms by 117 adult participants. The survey included questions about daily PMP usage, listening preferences, and education on safe sound levels. A total of 67 females and 50 males participated in this study. Of the respondents, 21% exclusively used headphones, 47% used earbuds, and 49% used both headphones and earbuds. Data was analyzed via SPSS 27 using a chi-square test and ANOVA. Analysis of the study revealed that about 10.3% of participants pre¬sented mild NIHL in the right ear, and 22.2% had mild NIHL in the left ear. Moreover, NIHL was observed in a greater population at a frequency of 15dB in the right ear, while 9, 11, and 21dB in the left ear. The significant association between NIHL in the right ear and high-volume listening (p < 0.05) highlights the detrimental impact of listening habits. Conversely, no significant association was found between the duration of device use and NIHL in either ear. This cross-sectional survey has unveiled various aspects of earbud dependency, among which hearing loss is a major one. However, there is a need to conduct longitudinal studies for further assessment of the disastrous damage caused by this technology.