Improvement of balance in young adults by a sound component at 100 Hz in music

Abstract

About 80% of young people use personal listening devices (PLDs) including MP3 players to listen to music, which consists of sound components with various frequencies. Previous studies showed that exposure to noise of high intensities affected balance in humans. However, there is no information about a frequency-dependent effect of sound components in music from a PLD on balance in young people. In this study, we determined the associations between sound component levels (dB) at 100, 1000 and 4000 Hz in music from a portable listening device (PLD) and balance objectively determined by posturography in young adults (n = 110). We divided the subjects into two groups (low and high exposure groups) based on cut-off values of sound component levels at each frequency using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Balance in the high exposure group (≥46.6 dB) at 100 Hz was significantly better than that in low exposure group in logistic regression models adjusted for sex, BMI, smoking status and alcohol intake, while there were no significant associations at 1000 and 4000 Hz. Thus, this study demonstrated for the first time that the sound component at 100 Hz with more than 46.6 dB in music improved balance in young adults.

Postural regulation and stability with acoustic input in normal-hearing subjects

“…Xu et al. [ 35 ] investigated the frequency-specific influence of music on balance in 110 healthy volunteers and reported an improvement of postural control at 100 Hz.…”

“…Postural regulation is based on complex interaction mechanisms of postural subsystems. It has been shown several times in healthy subjects [ 5 , 8 , 9 , 11 , 17 , 18 , 28 , 31 , 33 , 35 ] as well as in patients with hearing amplification [ 10 , 19 , 29 , 30 , 33 , 34 ] that the auditory system also plays a role in addition to visual, proprioceptive, and vestibular cues. In the majority of studies, a positive influence of hearing on balance and postural stability has been reported.…”

“…However, it must be taken into account that lateral sound sources were placed only at a distance of a few centimeters from the pinna. Xu et al [35] investigated the frequency-specific influence of music on balance in 110 healthy volunteers and reported an improvement of postural control at 100 Hz.…”

Posturale Regulation und Stabilität unter akustischem Input bei Normalhörenden

“…Dass das auditorische System dabei neben visuellen, propriozeptiven und vestibulären Reizen (bzw. Subsystemen) ebenfalls eine Rolle spielt, wurde bisher schon mehrfach an gesunden Probanden [5,8,9,11,17,18,28,31,33,35] wie auch an Patienten mit Hörrehabilitation gezeigt [10,19,29,30,33,34]. Dabei wurde in der Mehrzahl der Studien ein positiver Einfluss des Hörens auf das Gleichgewicht und die posturale Stabilität genannt.…”

“…Xu et al [35] untersuchten den fre-quenzspezifischenEinfluss vonMusikauf das Gleichgewicht bei 110 gesunden Probanden und berichteten von einer Verbesserung der posturalen Kontrolle bei 100 Hz.…”