Effects of Earbuds and Headphones on Hearing and Vestibular Outcomes in Adolescents and Young Adults: A Systematic Review and Evidence Synthesis

Personal listening devices (PLDs)-earbuds, earphones, and headphones-are nearly ubiquitous among adolescents. We evaluated whether PLD exposure was associated with hearing loss, tinnitus, subjective auditory difficulty, or vestibular dysfunction in adolescents and young adults.

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Counsel adolescent and young adult patients on safe listening habits; subclinical auditory damage from personal listening devices is a real risk even before standard audiogram thresholds shift.

As personal listening device use becomes near-universal among youth, this systematic review consolidates evidence on a growing public-health risk that may not yet appear on routine audiograms.

1. 01Systematic review in Noise & Health examines earbud/headphone exposure effects on hearing and vestibular outcomes in adolescents and young adults.
2. 02Early auditory damage may be present even when conventional pure-tone thresholds appear normal (subclinical loss).
3. 03Vestibular (balance system) outcomes were also assessed alongside hearing, broadening the scope of risk examined.
4. 04Evidence synthesis format allows pooling findings across heterogeneous studies on personal listening device exposure.
5. 05Findings have direct public-health implications for safe-listening education and policy in pediatric/young-adult populations.

PMID

42976014

DOI

10.4103/nah.nah_168_26.

Journal

Noise & Health

Publication type

systematic_review

Evidence level

1a

Population

Adolescents and young adults with personal listening device (earbud/headphone) exposure

Intervention

Personal listening device (earbud and headphone) exposure