Prevalence of sensorineural hearing loss among medical students who are chronic mobile phone and earphone users in Trivandrum, South Kerala, India

Abstract

Introduction: Hearing loss occurs as age increases, but these days seen affecting young adults as well. This could be due to the current increasing trend of chronic usage of personal listening devices (PLDs) such as mobile phones and earphones, which causes damage to the inner hair cells of the ear. Objectives: To study the prevalence of chronic PLD users among medical students and to assess the proportion of sensorineural hearing loss among them. To assess the perceived effects of listening to PLDs among chronic and non-chronic users of PLDs in medical students. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study was done among 420 medical students of Dr. Somervell Memorial CSI Medical College in 2016. Basic information was collected from each student using a self administered predesigned and pretested questionnaire and chronic users were selected and subjected to pure tone audiometry and otoacoustic emissions (OAE). Results: Of the 420 students consented for the study, 44% were chronic users of PLDs. 120 students were subjected to audiometry and OAE. The total prevalence of sensorineural hearing loss was found to be 5% with high frequency hearing loss and 18.3% for low frequency hearing loss OAE results were normal in all individuals. The main associated complaints were poor academic performance, lack of sleep, limb pain and road side accidents. Conclusion:This study concluded only mild degree sensorineural hearing loss among chronic users of PLDs. However the associated complaints such as poor academic performance and roadside accidents were comparatively more in chronic users than non-chronic users.