Sadaf Zia, Mehboob Afzal Jawaid, Mohammad Bilal, Tooba Farooqui, Fatemah Lakhani, Lubna Tabassum, Salman Matiullah Shaikh.
Noise-Induced Hearing Loss related to Personal Music Players- Awareness Level among the Young users in a Developing Country.
J Dow Uni Health Sci Jan ;8(1):11-5.

Introduction: Since the first introduction of personal portable players in June 1979, the younger generations are exposed daily to high levels of noise which is higher with use of insert earphones/ headset. This is leading to Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) at a younger age. NIHL is an important public health priority because, as people live longer and industrialization spreads; NIHL will add substantially to the global burden of disability. This may have a major economic impact on the community as these teenagers and young adults may require hearing aids at a younger age. Objective: To assess the awareness among young users of personal music players (PMP) with headset/insert earphones about NIHL caused by these devices. To assess presence of symptoms related to prolonged noise exposure. Material & Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire based survey was conducted on 400 university-going students. Results: The participants were from 19-22 years of age. Male to female ratio was 1:2. Though 80% of our respondents had some knowledge about NIHL but very few were changing their practices for protection of their hearing. Twenty two percent of respondents are experiencing hearing impairment and 29% difficulty understanding speech despite their young ages. 27% had tinnitus while 21% had vertigo following prolonged exposure to noise. Conclusion: Majority of users of audio devices surveyed were listening to music for more than 1 hr/day at moderate to high volumes. Although more than three quarters of our respondents knew something about NIHL, but less than one third of them were actually practising hearing protective measures.

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