Ear-to-Hear: A descriptive analysis of hearing health attitudes, beliefs, knowledge and behavior patterns of users of personal stereo systems among college students aged 18-26 years

BACKGROUND: Noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) due to portable listening devices are of concern to many health professionals because this health ailment is 100% preventable. Although new technological advances have brought much comfort and fun to many users, it has also brought on disturbing concerns about hearing health involving social, learning and communicative development. PURPOSE: This study was conducted to primarily gauge college students' hearing health attitudes, beliefs, knowledge, and behavior patterns in order to develop appropriate strategies for health education. METHODS: Utilizing constructs from the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), a twenty-three itemed questionnaire was created and administered to college students. A total of 112 surveys were collected measuring college students' preferences and attitudes about hearing health and portable listening devices. RESULTS: The majority of participants (72%) reported incorrect knowledge of safe frequency, duration and intensity levels for listening devices. About 46.5% of college students believed that they were at risk for hearing loss. Significant results were found when reviewing gender and the hours per day participants listened to personal stereo systems (p=0.001) as well as age and the volume at which subjects set listening devices (p=0.002). CONCLUSION: The study shows that there's plausible cause for concern for students who engage in unsafe practices of portable listening devices and appropriate interventions must be implemented to protect hearing in the long term.