Trends in listening to personal stereos

Abstract

Abstract

Long term use of personal stereo players (PSP) is now established as a potential risk to hearing health if exposure levels are not maintained at what are accepted as safe levels. Comparison of PSP user test results indicate that mean listening levels (L_Aeq) have decreased from 86.1 dB in 2002/03 to 81.3 dB in 2008 and mean exposure levels (L_Aeq,8h) have decreased from 79.8 dB to 74.7 dB over the same time period, in a user population whose mean age has increased from 23.6 years (SD = 5.7) to 26.0 years (SD = 10.5). This reduction in exposure level of 5 dB also means that the percentage of user population at risk of noise injury and subsequent hearing loss has decreased from 25% to 17% when judged by criterion commonly used for workplace occupational noise exposure standards.

Sumario

Está bien establecido que el uso prolongado de estéreos personales (PSP) es un riesgo potencial para la salud auditiva, si los niveles de exposición no se mantienen en los niveles aceptados como seguros. La comparación de los resultados de pruebas a usuarios de PSP indican que los niveles de escucha medios (L_Aeq) han disminuido de 86.1 dB en 2002/03, a 81.3 dB en 2008 y que los niveles medios de exposición (L_Aeq,8h) han disminuido de 79.8 dB a 74.7 dB en el mismo período de tiempo, en una población de usuarios cuya edad media se ha incrementado de 23.6 años (SD=5.7) a 26 años (SD= 10.5). Esta reducción de 5 dB en el nivel de exposición, también significa que el porcentaje de población de usuarios con riesgo de daño por ruido y subse-cuente pérdida auditiva, ha disminuido de 25% a 17%, cuando se juzgan con el criterio comúnmente usado para los estándares de exposición en lugares de trabajo con ruido ocupacional.

Key Words:

• noise exposure
• personal stereo players
• hearing loss
• noise injury

Acknowledgements

The author would like to acknowledge the marketing section of Australian Hearing for continuing support of this project, and Dr Megan Gilliver and Dr Harvey Dillon at NAL for statistical discussions.

Notes

1. The curve of best fit was estimated to be L_Aeq,8h (dB) = 112.8–25.7 log₁₀ (age).

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Appendix

Personal stereo use questionnaire

1. General

1.1 Location:

1.2 Time:

1.3 Date:

1.4 Gender ...

1.5 Age ...

1.6 Postcode ...

1.7 Measured level: dB(A)

1.8 corrected level (−5 dB): dB(A)

2. Personal stereo use

2.1 Hours of use per day...

2.2 Days/week...

2.3 How many years?

2.4 Similar volume?

YES/NO

2.5 Louder/softer

2.6 When and where do you use it?

3. Hearing health

3.1 Do you feel you have a hearing loss?

YES/NO

3.2 Does an immediate family member or friend ever mention that you may have difficulty hearing?

YES/NO

3.3 Do you find it very difficult to follow a conversation if there is background noise?

YES/NO

3.4 Do you ever have any noise/ringing in your ears?

Never Occasionally Frequently Always

4. Loud activities

Table

4.10 Are you exposed to loud noise at work?

YES/NOWhat sort of work?

4.11 Do you feel you are at-risk for experiencing hearing loss problems as a result of your noise exposure? (circle one)

No risk at all 1 ... 2 ... 3 ... 4 ... 5 ... 6 Very high risk

4.12 Would it bother you to lose some of your hearing? (circle one) Not much 1 ...2 ... 3 ... 4 ... 5 ... 6 A lot

5. Are there any comments you would like to make about hearing?