and aim The increasing use of personal listening devices (PLDs), particularly in-ear earphones, has raised concerns regarding their potential adverse effects on auditory health among young adults. Prolonged exposure to high-intensity recreational sound is considered a major risk factor for noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL)....
✦ The floor
Discussion
Signed responses from readers of the wire.
Audiologists counseling patients who use personal listening devices regularly should be aware of prospective evidence on hearing threshold variability, but should await full published data before updating noise-exposure counseling protocols.
With earphone use near-universal in younger populations, prospective data on hearing threshold shifts directly informs public health messaging and safe-listening guidance.
- 01Prospective study tracked hearing threshold changes in personal listening device (earphone) users over time.
- 02Examined auditory health risks associated with prolonged in-ear earphone use.
- 03Published in Cureus (doi: 10.7759/cureus.110339).
- 04Findings relevant to safe-listening education and at-risk population counseling.
- 05In-ear earphone use is a growing public health concern, especially in adolescents and young adults.
Prolonged use of in-ear earphones is associated with measurable hearing threshold variability.
studypartially supportedPersonal listening device use poses auditory health risks.
studypartially supported- PMID
- 42440863
- DOI
- 10.7759/cureus.110339.
- Journal
- Cureus
- Publication type
- research_article
- Evidence level
- 2b
- Population
- Personal listening device users with regular in-ear earphone use
- Intervention
- Prolonged in-ear earphone use via personal listening devices
Primary outcomes
Hearing threshold variability over time; Auditory health risk indicators in personal listening device users
