Influence of recreational noise on hearing in the young adult population

According to the World Health Organization, approximately 1.1 billion young people are at risk of hearing loss due to the unsafe use of personal audio devices, which includes smartphones, and exposure to noisy entertainment venues such as clubs, sports events, etc. also contributes to the risk. Long-term exposure to high volume levels has a harmful effect on hearing, so it is important to have data on the hearing condition of young people who use headphones from an early age. Previous research indicates a connection between exposure to high levels of sound intensity and the appearance of symptoms of hearing damage. The aim of the research was to determine the
habits of recreational use of headphones in young people aged 18 to 25, to determine the volume of sound in headphones, to determine hearing sensitivity by audiometry, and to determine the connection between the way headphones are used and possible hearing damage. 111 respondents, final year high school students and students of the University of Zagreb, participated in the research. The tests included filling out a questionnaire, a doctor’s examination (otoscopic examination and medical history), audiometry and measuring the sound volume in headphones. Preliminary results on 50 subjects indicate that 29.7 % of women and 14.3 % of men had a marginal deviation of the hearing threshold in the range of 20 to 40 dB, while 74.6 % had a normal audiometry finding. Of the reported hearing difficulties, 59.3 % of respondents said that they had problems with tinnitus at least once in their life, most often associated with exposure to high levels of noise in public places. As for the daily exposure to the use of headphones, it is an average of 2.5 hours on weekdays and 3 hours on weekends. Based on the obtained results, we conclude that the established hearing impairments are not clinically significant, but may
represent a risk for later significant impairments.