1. Hear today, gone tomorrow: an assessment of portable entertainment player use and hearing acuity in a community sample.
- Author
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Shah S, Gopal B, Reis J, and Novak M
- Subjects
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Cross-Sectional Studies, Family Practice, Female, Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced epidemiology, Humans, Illinois epidemiology, Male, Middle Aged, Primary Health Care, Risk Factors, Surveys and Questionnaires, Young Adult, Ear Protective Devices, Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced etiology, Music, Noise adverse effects, Residence Characteristics
- 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.
- Published
- 2009
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