Dizziness is a common and multifactorial neurological symptom whose environmental determinants remain incompletely understood. Although noise exposure is well established as a cause of hearing loss, its potential relationship with dizziness has been insufficiently investigated at the population level....
Audiologists assessing noise-exposed patients should routinely screen for dizziness and vestibular symptoms, as this study adds population-level evidence linking noise exposure to dizziness risk.
If noise exposure is independently associated with dizziness at a population level, it broadens the public health argument for noise protection beyond hearing loss prevention to include balance disorders.
- 01Nationally representative data links noise exposure to increased dizziness in middle-aged adults.
- 02The study moves beyond hearing loss to examine balance and vestibular effects of noise.
- 03Middle-aged adults are a key occupational and recreational noise-exposed demographic.
- 04Findings point to noise as an environmental risk factor for multifactorial dizziness.
- 05Results support expanding noise-protection messaging to include vestibular health.
Noise exposure is associated with increased prevalence of dizziness in middle-aged adults.
studysupportedNoise exposure may be an environmental determinant of dizziness as a neurological symptom.
studypartially supported- PMID
- 42239689
- DOI
- 10.3389/fneur.2026.1818481.
- Journal
- Frontiers in Neurology
- Publication type
- research_article
- Evidence level
- 2b
- Population
- Middle-aged adults from a nationally representative sample
- Intervention
- Noise exposure (occupational and/or environmental)
- Comparator
- Adults without significant noise exposure
Primary outcomes
Prevalence and association of dizziness with noise exposure